STORM TRACKER: Follow 'Storm Amy' as it bears down on Ireland amid brutal forecast
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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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A vacant and derelict home in Broomville Portlaoise
None of the 35 people in Laois who have had applications approved to make homes habitable are in limbo because they have not received the money due to them under a housing renovation scheme.
The Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant (worth up to €50,000) is available to eligible applicants for the refurbishment of their property into a permanent home or rental property.
A top-up grant of €20,000 is also available for derelict properties (bringing the total grant to €70,000).
Each local authority receives and reviews applications to ensure grant conditions are met.
Once approval has been granted, property owners are given 13 months to complete the works, after which the grant will be paid following a successful inspection.
So far, 75 applications have been made in Laois. Of these, 35 have been approved with five rejected. No grants have issued.
Between April and June this year, 25 of the 31 applicants have been approved by Laois County Council for support. Just two applications were refused. However, none of the applicants have got any money.
According to today's Quarter Two report - which covers the period between April 1 and June 30 - just 1,120 grant applications were submitted nationwide (597 for vacant homes, 500 for derelict homes), with a total of 506 approvals.
Nearly 1,000 seven applications were reportedly submitted between January 1 and March 31.
This is a large increase on the 801 applications submitted by interested homeowners throughout last year, 157 of which received approval, with 73 refusals.
Applications have been submitted by people from every county in Ireland.
In 2022, the majority were submitted to Cork County Council (82 applications), followed by Kerry County Council (63), with Cork County Council receiving the most applications this year (117), followed by Galway County Council (83).
Waterford City and County Council received the fewest applications in 2023 (just one), while Galway City Council received the fewest last year (three applications).
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