None of the 31 Irish councils applied for additional staff to tackle vacant and derelict buildings, despite funding being available, according to the Irish Examiner. Just one dedicated vacant homes officer is in post in 30 of the local authorities, despite this being insufficient for larger councils, while the Central Statistics Office estimates that one in 25 homes is vacant. A €150m ($181m) fund has been made available for local authorities to buy and restore empty properties. Once they have been sold or rented out, council revenue generated will return to the fund.

Despite funding being available for the roles, none of the 31 local authorities in Ireland applied for extra staff to tackle vacant homes and buildings, according to the Irish Examiner. Of the 30 councils that have just one dedicated vacant homes officer, a single staff member is not regarded as sufficient for the workload, particularly in larger councils. The need for more housing to be made available has been thrown into sharp focus by the lifting of the eviction ban. The Central Statistics Office has estimated that one in 25 homes nationwide is vacant. Of nearly 167,000 vacant houses and apartments, 48,500 homes vacant in 2016 were still vacant in 2022, while 23,500 were vacant in 2011, 2016, and 2022. Last month, a €150m injection into the urban regeneration and development fund was announced for local authorities to tackle vacant and derelict buildings in their areas. The fund applies to homes and commercial properties.