There are currently around 800 empty houses in Cavan and 600 in Monaghan which could be brought to market if people applied for the government's vacant property refurbishment grant. And, if these houses were to be renovated, pressure would be lifted on the housing crisis and bring people back living in town centres and rural areas.
CEO of the Hardware Association of Ireland, Martin Markey, told the Joe Finnegan Show that the average cost of building a new 3-bed semi-detached house in Ireland stands at €400,000 while vacant properties can be renovated for the average price of a second-hand home in the same area. A vacant property grant can be worth up to €50,000 when coupled with SEAI grants for retrofitting buyers can receive up to €95,000.
A "choke point" for the scheme, however, is that right now there is only one person employed by Cavan County Council to process the 210 applications currently with the local authority. "If you're looking at County Cavan, there are about 800 homes there, Leitrim is about 500, Monaghan about 600, Roscommon is 700 and Longford is 650," Mr Markey said, So, there's a huge potential there for people but the choke point may be that we don't have enough personnel. Take for example Cavan County Council: there are 210 applications for vacant home grants and, as far as I know, there's only one person dealing with those
