Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will conclude. I honestly believe the Department was caught napping on this issue over the past few years. The problems were foreseeable and the numbers are increasing. If one does not build housing for three, four or five years, this is inevitable. I am sure somebody must have a list of vacant houses so we can see where we can get good value for money and purchase them. They are still out there but the vulture funds are coming in and buying 20, 30, 40 and 50 properties here, there and everywhere. The vulture funds will buy 20 or 30 houses in an area and the Department will end up giving money to voluntary housing associations to buy them back from the vulture funds, with the vulture funds having made a profit in the process. The longer the Department stays out of the market, the more it will pay in the end.