Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Balfe is speaking to the converted in addressing that point to the Chairperson and me. A report the committee did on vacancy and dereliction made precisely the same point. If I had my way, anybody who wanted to demolish a building would have to justify it, our planning system would be able to refuse permission on the grounds that there is not a valid justification for demolition and there would be the possibility of requiring reuse of material that is removed. We recommended that in the report. We need a little of what we are talking about today and a lot of reusing existing buildings. The census shows there are 166,000 vacant dwellings across the State. Granular data suggest that in the case of some 50,000 or 60,000 of those units, their reuse for residential purposes could be achieved if there were a real drive to do so. We will still need to build a lot of new units as well. A mixture of both is needed. Mr. Balfe certainly has my support and that of the Chairperson on that.