Donegal County Council makes poor use of tenant-in-situ scheme despite housing need
Just four homes purchased since 2023 as other counties make far greater use of scheme to keep tenants in place when landlords sell
Donegal County Council is failing to make full use of funding from central government to allow local authorities purchase homes so tenants can continue living there after a landlord decides to sell the property.
Data published by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage shows that the ‘tenant-in-situ’ scheme has been used on just four occasions in Donegal since it was introduced in 2023. That is by far the lowest number of any local authority in the State - including counties with significantly smaller populations.
The figures reveal that just four such Donegal homes were purchased in the three years the scheme has been in operation, all of them in 2024.
By way of comparison, local authorities in counties with similar populations - such as Mayo, Kerry and Tipperary - have purchased far more homes to allow tenants to remain in place after landlords sold up.
Tipperary County Council has purchased 71 homes under the scheme, Mayo 26, and Kerry 23.
Councils in smaller counties have also purchased more homes.
Leitrim, with around one-fifth of Donegal’s population, bought eight homes, Roscommon County Council purchased 20, and Sligo County Council purchased 36.
Across the State, the data shows that 2,430 properties have been purchased under the tenant-in-situ scheme from 2023 to September 2025.
The scheme is being wound down by Government. While 2025 data is incomplete (covering January to September only), the trend is clear enough - more than 1,000 homes were purchased in both 2023 and 2024, falling to 295 in the first nine months of 2025.
“Tenant in situ acquisitions are an option for local authorities to support households in the most precarious housing situations,” Minister for Housing James Brown told TDs Barry Ward (Fine Gael) and Eoin Ó Broin (Sinn Féin) in response to parliamentary questions earlier this month.
“Such acquisitions are, and will continue to be, available to local authorities for use as a last resort when all other options have been exhausted.
“However, they will never be the sole, or even the primary, option. The default first options should almost always be securing the sustainment of the tenancy with the landlord, securing alternative accommodation through the Tenancy Sustainment and Placefinder services, or allocating a local authority or Approved Housing Body tenancy via a new build home or re-let.”
Homes purchased by local authority 2023-25
Dublin City 454
Fingal 351
South Dublin 214
Kildare 145
Cork City 139
Limerick 126
Cork County 118
Louth 105
Westmeath 98
Tipperary 71
Waterford 69
Galway City 53
Wexford 52
Meath 50
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown 39
Wicklow 37
Sligo 36
Offaly 31
Carlow 30
Mayo 26
Clare 24
Kerry 23
Longford 23
Monaghan 22
Kilkenny 21
Roscommon 20
Galway County 19
Cavan 12
Laois 10
Leitrim 8
Donegal 4
Total 2,430
Source: Department of Housing