Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I have not tabled an amendment to the section, but I suggest the following for consideration given the possibility that I might put something in on Report Stage. I refer to section 5(2). When we are talking about the definitions of "site" and "home" on page 7, we are excluding what are described as "homes". Obviously, there is a very good reason to do that in most cases. One does not want to be lashing levies on people who might have a house or what is defined as a "home" empty for a period for understandable and legitimate reasons. However, there is an issue of which I am aware, albeit I have to do a bit more research. In fact, the Minister of State may be in a position to enlighten us. I understand that in London and other European cities if a house is empty for a very prolonged period without good reason, there are laws which provide that those sites can either be taken by local authorities or that levies will apply to them. One might not be able to take them here, but levies might be possible. I would like to hear the Minister of State on this. While one would obviously have to be careful and there would have to be a great deal of consideration as to how it might be done, it is wrong if there are built houses just sitting there for long period, whether they are in public or private ownership, when there are people in need of places to live. We need to consider whether a provision should be included in the Bill to address that issue. It may be that we could look at how the issue is dealt with in other jurisdictions, particularly in Europe, where legislation is in place to ensure that empty properties are used for housing for people who need it.