Meath County Council’s social housing stock reached 4,719 homes at the end of 2025, according to new figures published by the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC).q
The council added 369 housing units during 2025 under the NOAC performance measure, while the figures also highlight the time and cost involved in bringing vacant council homes back into use.
NOAC published its Local Authority Performance Indicator Report 2025 on September 17, covering the performance of local authorities across a range of services.
For Meath, the figures provide a snapshot of social housing delivery, vacant properties, emergency accommodation and private-rental inspections.
Meath’s council housing stock grows
The NOAC figures record 4,719 homes in Meath County Council’s housing stock at the end of 2025.
The council’s own 2024 annual report recorded 4,285 dwellings in its ownership at the end of 2024. The figures are based on different reporting measures, so the NOAC figure of 369 units added during 2025 should not simply be treated as the mathematical difference between the two year-end stock figures.
The overall picture is nevertheless one of continued expansion in the council’s directly owned housing stock.
Meath also recorded a 2.39% vacancy rate across its council housing stock at the end of 2025, slightly below the national local-authority vacancy rate of 2.44%.
The council sold 14 of its own dwellings during the year.
Average expenditure on maintenance was €1,168.79 per council-owned home.
The additional housing comes against continued demand for social housing in the county. Meath County Council says demand remains high and that qualified applicants can expect to wait, on average, six to 10 years, depending on their housing need.
Vacant homes take almost eight months to re-let
One of the clearest challenges in the NOAC figures is the amount of time required to return vacant properties to use.
It took an average of 34.6 weeks for a vacant council property in Meath to be re-let during 2025.
That is roughly eight months and compares with a national average of 32.08 weeks.
The average cost of preparing a vacant property for a new tenant was €22,206.18.
The figure covers properties requiring different levels of work. Some homes may need relatively minor repairs, while others can require more extensive refurbishment before another household can move in.
Meath’s 2024 figures recorded an average re-letting period of 24 weeks, with average expenditure of €22,260.43.
The latest figures therefore show a significant increase in the average turnaround time, while the average cost remained broadly similar.
The council has identified the management of vacant properties as an important part of improving the availability of existing housing stock.
Its 2026 budget also placed emphasis on improvements to vacant properties and a move towards planned maintenance, supported by work to assess the condition of its housing stock.
60 council homes receive energy upgrades
Meath County Council also continued to improve the energy performance of its existing housing stock.
During 2025, 60 homes were retrofitted under the Housing Retrofit Programme.
All 60 properties achieved a B2 BER rating or higher, while heat pumps were installed in each home.
The retrofit programme is estimated to deliver annual energy savings of 754.8 megawatt-hours and reduce carbon emissions by approximately 200.6 tonnes.
The work forms part of the wider effort to improve the energy efficiency of older social housing while reducing energy use for households living in the properties.
Related: Madrid Housing Crisis: 87-Year-Old Tenant Evicted After 71 Years in Same Home
Long-term emergency accommodation remains an issue
The NOAC figures also highlight pressure on emergency accommodation in Meath.
During 2025, 68.52% of adults in emergency accommodation were recorded as long-term residents, meaning they had remained in emergency accommodation for more than six months.
The figure illustrates the difficulty of moving some households from emergency accommodation into more permanent housing.
Additional council housing can increase the number of homes available, but the speed at which existing vacant properties are repaired and re-let is also important.
Meath County Council is preparing for the 2026 Summary Social Housing Assessment, which will establish the number of qualified households whose housing need remains unmet.
The national counting date for the assessment is November 2, 2026.
Private rental inspections show high initial non-compliance
The NOAC report also provides figures on Meath’s private rental sector.
There were 8,075 registered tenancies in the county during 2025.
Meath County Council inspected 2,907 rented dwellings, with 4,335 inspections carried out when re-inspections are included.
The initial inspection results found that 93.59% of the dwellings inspected were not compliant with rental regulations at first inspection.
By the end of the year, 1,004 properties had been deemed compliant.
The figures should be read in the context of the inspection process. A property recorded as non-compliant at an initial inspection can subsequently meet the required standards after remedial work or a further inspection.
The figure therefore does not mean that 93.59% of all rental properties in Meath were permanently non-compliant.
Council seeks more housing across Meath
Meath County Council is also looking for opportunities to increase the supply of social and affordable housing.
The council is seeking offers of completed, partly completed and uncommenced residential developments that already have planning permission in locations including Navan, Ashbourne, Kells, Bettystown, Laytown, Duleek, Dunboyne, Ratoath, Dunshaughlin, Slane and Trim.
The council says it is particularly interested in locations where the need for social and affordable housing is acute.
The approach reflects a wider trend among local authorities of using a combination of new construction, acquisitions and other delivery methods to increase housing supply.
M10News has previously examined the wider issue of housing delivery, where rising construction output is being accompanied by delays between planning approval and completed homes.
Related: Tipperary Rezones More Than 150 Hectares for Housing Across 24 Settlements
More homes, but a longer wait for some vacant properties
The latest figures present a mixed picture of Meath’s housing stock.
The council had 4,719 homes in its housing stock at the end of 2025, while the NOAC performance measure recorded 369 units added during the year.
The vacancy rate was relatively low at 2.39%, but vacant properties took an average of 34.6 weeks to return to tenants.
At the same time, a significant proportion of adults in emergency accommodation had been there for more than six months, while private rental inspections found a high level of initial non-compliance among the properties inspected.
For households waiting for social housing, the availability of new homes is only part of the picture.
The speed at which existing council properties can be repaired and re-let can also determine how quickly additional accommodation becomes available.
Meath’s challenge is therefore not simply increasing the number of homes in council ownership. It is also making effective use of the homes already available, maintaining them, improving their energy performance and moving vacant properties back into use as efficiently as possible.
