A call has been issued to expand the Government's Croí Cónaithe scheme.

The current scheme offers a grant of up to €50,000 to refurbish vacant and derelict properties, with a requirement that the person carrying out the refurbishment must use the new home as their principal residence.

Fine Gael TD Ciaran Cannon spoke about the issue, claiming the scheme should be expanded to include properties that are refurbished for rental in an attempt to help more families and individuals to find homes.

Deputy Ciaran Cannon said: "Late last year I made the case that the Croí Cónaithe scheme should be extended to include rural areas and ultimately this change was made to the scheme. My suggestion at the time was based on the number of enquiries I was receiving from people who owned vacant buildings in rural East Galway and couldn't understand why they were excluded from the scheme.

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"Now I'm also receiving enquiries from people who want to refurbish vacant buildings and turn them into homes for rental.

"I have no doubt but that there are many such property owners across the country and a grant of up to €50,000 would be the difference between leaving buildings vacant and derelict or returning them to use as family homes.

"All of us who travel through our local towns and villages see so many properties that have been boarded up for years. Why wouldn't we use every lever available to us to bring them back into use?

"I'm engaging with Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien to make this suggestion to him, to make the grant available to anyone who wants to turn a vacant building into a home. That's what we really need to work towards," concluded Deputy Cannon.