A former convent building in Waterford which has been transformed into 71 homes for older people has been officially opened by Minister for Housing and Local Government Darragh O'Brien.
The development is located at St Joseph's House on Manor Hill in the city with 50 homes located within the main convent and another 21 in various outbuilding clusters on the site.
Minister O'Brien described it as an "exemplar" development of public housing and one of the largest of its kind completed so far.
"A very serious objective that we have in Government and that I have as housing minister is to tackle vacancy and to bring all buildings back into use," he said.
"St Joseph's here, right in the middle of Waterford, is magnificent: an old school building, an old convent building, now 71 age-friendly apartments. What was a derelict site, breathing life back into the this part of city but really importantly bringing appropriate housing for our seniors here."
There are other such "wonderful" projects around the country, he said, but St Joseph's is the first of this scale to be opened. The development involved over €4.1m of funding from the Government under the repair and lease scheme.
The minister added that renovating such old buildings is a "really important part" of the Government's programme to provide homes.
"We need our new builds and we're doing that, but from a climate perspective and a regeneration perspective, empty buildings that are there should be brought back into use and that's why I made changes to planning to exempt planning on developments such as these, so that we can convert commercial buildings to residential buildings and make that process much easier."
The minister of state for older people, Mary Butler TD, said the re-development of St Joseph's is "giving options to older people from Waterford, inner city living".
She said that most people would prefer to age at home, and to have that choice. "Nobody is being forced to move into accommodation that they don't want to live in, so that's really important."
Minister O'Brien also visited Slí na Coille, a social housing development for 27 families in Tramore under the direction of Clúid Housing; Summerfields which is part of Waterford City and County Council's affordable purchase scheme and will involve 92 homes in Waterford; and Deerpark which is being developed to provide 25 affordable homes.
He also turned the sod on a new development of 50 residential units at An Garrán in Tramore.
