The Housing Minister has led discussions with Leitrim County Council on ways to tackle the high number of vacant homes in the county.
Preliminary results from the Census show Leitrim has the highest rate of empty dwellings in the country at 16 percent.
The CSO say 48,000 homes are vacant across the Northwest, most of which are farm properties and empty since 2011.
On a visit to Carrick-on- Shannon today Darragh O'Brien discussed with council officials the use of repair and lease schemes which would see property owners renovate homes to lease back to the local authority.
He also hopes Leitrim will be involved a new compulsory purchase initiative to which will be launched shortly.
''I discussed this with Leitrim County Council this morning and we've brought forward in the Department of Housing a number of initiatives to tackle vacancies. I've also embarked on a compulsory purchase order program and Leitrim will be involved in that and it's supported by the housing agency to buy these vacant homes and either use them as social housing stock or sell them back into the market.''
