Fianna Fáil signals more cash to bring above-shop units into housing supply

A grant of up to €100,000 would be available to refurbish derelict “above the shop” premises to be used for homes under election pledges to be unveiled by Fianna Fáil on Monday.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said his party’s election manifesto, to be launched today will include commitments “particularly on housing and health and safer and cleaner urban environments”.
Fianna Fáil will promise more generous schemes for bringing vacant and derelict properties back into use as part of efforts to ramp up the supply of housing. It will pledge to create an above-the-shop living refurbishment grant of €100,000 by topping up the vacant and derelict refurbishment grant. The assistance for owners of such premises to bring the upper floors of a commercial property into use as a home is limited to €70,000.
Fianna Fáil will also pledge to increase the vacant property refurbishment grant for turning an empty house into a permanent home or a rental property from €50,000 to €60,000. The upper limit of the derelict property top-up grant would also increase by €10,000 to as much as €80,000.
A Fianna Fáil source said that since 2020, the party “has introduced attractive schemes to allow people to modernise and refurbish old houses in cities, towns and across rural Ireland” and that more than 6,700 approvals for such grants had already been issued.
On Sunday morning the Social Democrats separately outlined their plan to “restore and revive” Dublin.
The party’s Dublin North-West candidate, Rory Hearne, argued that the outgoing Government’s plans to encourage people to live over shops had not been effective. He said his party would allow Dublin City Council to levy a tax that would be higher than the vacant homes tax with the revenues ringfenced to bring such buildings back into use.
The Social Democrats Dublin Central candidate, Gary Gannon, claimed the recent launch of the Dublin City Centre Taskforce report was an “extremely cynical” exercise which pointed to a plan “without any funding, without any sense of direction”.
Fianna Fáil’s Dublin Bay South candidate, outgoing TD Jim O’Callaghan, responded to this criticism by highlighting the party’s proposals on “supporting urban communities” which were also launched on Sunday.
He said Fianna Fáil was proposing an urban communities initiative which will be backed by an investment of €175 million. “This is an example of a plan with funding and direction,” he added. The fund would support disadvantaged areas, including hiring community workers and investing in new facilities.
Mr O’Callaghan also said Fianna Fáil would recruit 5,000 gardaí over the next five years should it be returned to government, bringing the strength of the force to about 20,000.
Minister of State for Justice James Browne said Fianna Fáil would bring in additional powers for gardaí including dispersal orders to be directed at people who are carrying out antisocial behaviour.
Senator Mary Fitzpatrick, a Dublin Central candidate, said her party wants a dedicated transport police.