The Government will miss its own targets to bring vacant homes back into use unless the current pace of delivery improves significantly, Fianna Fail has claimed.

Spokesperson on Housing Barry Cowen TD made the comments after Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy took to the airwaves to discuss the establishment of an Empty Homes Unit within the Department of Housing.

He said: "The decision to appoint Vacant Home Officers at local authority level is a positive development, but these should have been in place a year ago. These officers will make an impact in certain areas. However they are unlikely to make much of a difference in areas of high demand, especially Dublin, as Census 2016 has demonstrated that vacancy rates are relatively low in these areas.

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"Fianna Fáil will bring forward the Vacant Housing Refurbishment Bill 2017 in the autumn which will comprehensively address the causes of long term housing vacancies. This will include measures to facilitate the refurbishment of ‘above shop units’ to bring thousands of square feet of liveable space back into use for housing. It’s unacceptable that living space in city centres remains unused at a time of a national housing crisis.

"Fundamentally the housing crisis can only be tackled long term by building more homes in areas where people want to live. The Government needs to deliver on an ambitious social and affordable housing programme."

(CD/MH)