The Department of Environment has recently sanctioned a €7m refurbishment grant to be used to renovate social houses in Dublin city.

The empty properties include a selection of apartments, flats and houses on the north and south side of the city.

The city council is preparing to start spending the money received for maintenance works on the vacant properties soon - generating much-needed business for the construction sector.

It has emerged that as many as 800 houses are standing empty in Dublin, even though thousands are in need of accommodation.

Dublin City Council's own figures show that the authority has 774 vacant properties in its possession.

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At the same time as councils across the country are struggling to cope with the huge demand for social housing and calls, there have already been calls made for them to secure the use of some privately-owned ghost estates.

In Dublin city alone there are 6,108 people on the council's housing list, although a spokesperson was keen to stress that not all of these would suit the specifications or locations of the 774 vacant properties.

However, the amount of unused housing stock in the capital has shocked councillors.

"It's the first time in a long time that I've seen councillors so outraged about something. It's absolutely appalling," Cllr Christy Burke told the Dublin newspaper, The Herald.

The empty properties include a selection of apartments, flats and houses on the north and south side of the city.

The numbers waiting for social housing has grown substantially since the onset of the recession.

The Government has already told councils to make use of long-term leasing of private housing as an alternative to the social housing construction programme (SHCP).

(BMcC/GK)