A total of €4.3 million has been spent through the vacant property refurbishment grant since it was launched in July 2022, according to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O'Brien.

The amount spent so far includes recoupment to local authorities for grants paid and administrative support to local authorities.

The grant includes up to €50,000 to renovate a vacant property and up to €70,000, if the property is derelict.

Aontú leader, Peadar Tóibín, said that the grant had a "very narrow qualification criteria" when it was first launched.

"It took the government nearly a year to revise the criteria, and even still we can see that only €4.3 million has been drawn down," the Meath West TD said.

For an applicant and property to meet the conditions of the grant, the following criteria must be met:

The property must have been vacant for two years or more;
The property must have been built prior to 2008;
An applicant must own the property or be in the process of buying it;
Applicants must live in the home as their principal private residence or make it available to rent on completion of qualifying works to the dwelling;
Applicants must provide evidence of tax compliance, with tax clearance from Revenue;
Where the property is being made available for rent, an applicant must provide a declaration that the refurbished property will be made available for rent and a tenancy registered with the Residential Tenancy Board (RTB);
Applicants must have the grant application approved before the work;
On completion of the qualifying works, applicants must agree to the clawback conditions.

Looking at 2022, 799 applications were received. A total of 155 were approved, and 63 were rejected.

For the first quarter of this year, 997 applications were received, 358 were approved and 40 were rejected.

For the second quarter, 1,455 were received, 576 approved, and 68 rejected.

The most up-to-date data from the department of housing is for the third quarter of 2023, which shows 1,389 applications received, 886 approved, and 87 rejected.

"The money being spent comes in at a quarter of a million euro every month, which equates to five or six houses every thirty days.

"At this rate it will take over three thousand years for the government to bring every vacant home back into use," Deputy Tóibín said.