171 council homes lay empty earlier this year in Donegal

New figures seen by RTÉ's Morning Ireland, show that Donegal had 171 council homes vacant at the end of the first six months of this year.

The vacant council figures were released under the Freedom of Information Act to Aontú leader and Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín and featured on RTÉ’s show Morning Ireland.

Speaking to RTÉ News, Mr Tóibín said: "It is incredible that in the jaws of a national emergency in terms of housing that well over 3,000 local authority homes are lying empty tonight. There are enough empty local authority homes in the State to house well over half the number of people who are homeless".

He said he blamed the State, the Department and the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien for this.

In response, the Department of Housing said: "The most recent NOAC (The National Oversight and Audit Commission) report shows that the turnaround time for social homes in some counties has improved significantly. 

“The Department continues to work with all local authorities to ensure social homes are turned around as quickly as possible."

They added: “Just because a local house becomes vacant, it isn't a matter of moving a tenant in the following morning. It isn't that simple. There may not be a willing tenant.”

The number of vacant council homes in Dublin was 712, Cork City 350, Cork County 184, Limerick 228 and Wicklow 175.