Kerry County Council has 74 houses that have been vacant for over two years.
They’re among 139 of the council’s housing stock that are currently empty.
The details were revealed in response to a question from Independent Cllr Jackie Healy-Rae.
Kerry County Council says it has 139 houses currently vacant in the county, which represents 3.2% of the total council housing stock.
Of those, 58 are vacant for less than 12 months; seven houses are vacant between one and two years, while 74 houses are vacant over two years.
Works are required on 105 of the 139 with an estimated total cost of €4.4 million.
Seven vacant houses are fire damaged or have structural issues and are awaiting insurance resolution; in another seven cases there are legal issue over titles or boundaries, while one house is a regeneration property and is part of larger project.
There are eight vacant council houses requiring significant works and are being assessed for procurement and tender; and four have been repossessed and require works.
There are 32 houses that have been bought, including under the Buy and Renew scheme, and works are ongoing on seven of those, while there are 46 under the voids programme which takes in social houses that have become vacant.
The council has another 28 houses that are available for letting, while there are six that are derelict.
Kerry County Council says it’s committed to ensuring that any of its properties that become vacant are given to another tenant as soon as possible, subject to available finance.
