Cork County Council has had to draft in extra staff to a department dealing with grants to do up vacant and derelict buildings because the scheme has been so successful, with the average pay out to date nearly €55,000 per property.
Approximately 1,450 people have applied so far for the grants in the county and 282 of them have been approved with a total payout of €15.4m.
Meanwhile, a further 870 applications have been approved. But the grants for these will not be paid out until the works are completed and they are signed off by county council staff.
