Kerry County Council has paid over €1.8 million in Vacant Property Grants so far this year.
That’s according to figures presented at the recent meeting of Castleisland-Corca Dhuibhne Municipal District.
The report shows that over 550 Croí Conaithe grant applications have been received by the council so far this year.
Nationally over €45 million has been paid out under the Vacant Property Refurbishment Scheme.
It was introduced by the Department of Housing in 2022, and offers grants of up to €70,000 to refurbish vacant and derelict homes.
According to the figures, 552 applications have been received by Kerry County Council as of November 12th this year.
Approval has been granted for 44% of applications (or 242) in the county under the Vacant Property Refurbishment Scheme; of which 34 (or 13%) have been paid.
79% (or 434) of applications have been for properties classified as principal private residences, while 21% (or 118) are listed as rental properties.
342 units were classified as rural, while 178 were listed as urban.
The figures show that the Castleisland-Corca Dhuibhne municipal district accounted for the highest number of applications in Kerry, at 26% (or 142).
The Listowel (22% or 121 applications) and Kenmare (20% or 109 applications) MD’s accounted for the next highest percentage of applications.
While there were 92 (or 17%) grant applications from within the Tralee MD, and 88 (16%) from the Killarney municipal district.
The reports shows in the Castleisland-Corca Dhuibhne MD, 35% (49) of applications have been approved, 23% (32) have been closed, and 12% (6) have been paid.
Meanwhile, 11% (15) of applications were deemed as incomplete, 15% (22) required further information, while 19 (13%) applications were rejected within the MD.
The figures show, as of November 12th 3 (2%) applications in the MD were withdrawn, while 2 applications were pending.
