I want to ask about vacant local authority homes. The report published by the National Oversight and Audit Commission shows that there are almost 5,000 empty local authority homes throughout the country. Some local authorities take more than a year to re-let a home. Cork City Council, for example, takes 85 weeks on average to re-let a home. With more than 60,000 households on housing waiting lists and even more people living in insecure housing assistance payment, HAP, tenancies, this is completely unacceptable. We know the most sustainable way to deal with housing is to bring vacant homes back into use. What is the Government doing to address the number of local authority homes that are left vacant for so long? When will the Government introduce a vacant homes tax?

I have no tolerance for voids or for hanging around. Voids should be brought back into use very quickly where houses are vacated. When I came into office, I asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to focus on this with the July stimulus. The report related to prior to the pandemic. Since then, and by the end of this year, my understanding is that approximately 6,000 void units will have been brought back into use. Specific funding was given to local authorities in the July stimulus package last year to bring voids back in more quickly. That was added to in 2021 for the full duration of the year. I have no tolerance for having houses idle or vacant for an undue length of time.