Room to Improve producers apologise over government grant promo

The grant was heavily promoted on the most recent season of the show.

The company behind the show, COCO Productions, issued the apology this weekend after the Sunday Independent obtained emails showing conversations with O'Brien's officials about the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant.

According to the Department of Housing, the grant, also known as the Croí Cónaithe Towns Fund, "benefits those who wish to turn a formerly vacant house or building into their principal private residence."

The scheme was heavily promoted during the most recent season of the show, which aired in January.

Room to Improve producers apologise over government grant promo

The Independent revealed that host Dermot Bannon and the show’s quantity surveyor, Claire Irwin, were given a private briefing by O’Brien’s officials in September 2022 about the grant.

The obtained emails also show that those working on the show were advised by a senior Department of Housing official on their grant used to refurbish a Kilkenny farmhouse on the show.

Owners of the house, which was the centre of the first episode of season 15, managed to attain the vacant homes grant of €50,000 due to the fact the house had not been lived more than two years, thus derelict.

Emails also revealed that despite Bannon not providing sufficient detail to show a property was eligible for the grant, a Kilkenny County Council official was prepared to advance the application.

In a statement issued through the RTÉ press office, COCO Productions said: “Room To Improve has always ­addressed grants available to homeowners for home renovations and refurbishments. The intention in this series was to cover the fact there were new grants available to the public.”

After the publication revealed communication between programme-makers and the Department of Housing in January, Bannon responded by saying, "I don’t see the big deal about it. We didn’t know what would get a grant and what wouldn’t.

"We are talking about it on camera," he added after saying he didn't think they were getting any "special treatment" from the councils.

"We need to know what we are talking about. We have a responsibility when we are talking about something to know what we are saying."