Today, the Government launched its housing plan. To be honest, the failure to date and the failure to mention any additional funding in the plan for voids leaves me with huge concern. I have raised this specific issue on a number of occasions in the Dáil. My council in Limerick is probably one of the better ones in dealing with voids, but it still cannot deal with the voids if it does not have funding to do it. A total of €11,000 on average is allocated per house to do voids up. Many of the houses are over 90 years old and some of them could be 100 years old. They need a lot more than €11,000, so they lie vacant for years.

These are not just homes that could be used to house families because when they are boarded up, they become magnets for antisocial behaviour. They lead to criminality and dumping, which often continues for years. Would the Tánaiste live next to one of these voids? I do not expect anyone to have to live next to one. They would not be tolerated in middle class areas across the State but they are put into local authority, working class council estates and often left for years because the council does not have the money to do them up. The Government's plan today does not have any additional money to deal with the voids. It is an average of €11,000. I have spoken to my local authority, which is beyond frustrated because it does not have the money to do it itself. It is the simplest way to put people back into homes.

We fundamentally agree with the Deputy that turning around vacant homes in a quicker manner, particularly turning around council stock in a quicker manner, is really important. It is one of the specific items we bring up each time we meet with local authority chief executives. We had four meetings in the past couple of weeks. We will meet with the Deputy's local authority very shortly. I am happy to have a conversation if there are funding issues we can assist with, but I would make the point that the figure of €11,000 does not include, obviously, additional money that is available through retrofitting, for example, which a lot of the voids might require.

There is a significant discrepancy, both around cost and time, across the country. In a country as small as our island, we are seeing some councils taking over one year to turn around a void, while some - I take the Deputy's point that his council is very good in this regard – have it done in less than 16 weeks. I will specifically engage with the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, with regard to Limerick on foot of the Deputy raising it and I will come back to him.