Mr. Pat Doyle:

I agree that there must be balance. Not every property will be suitable for housing. Some derelict sites will be suitable for community facilities. A vacant property tax could add to that. In Kildare, the local authority purchased a complete site. We got the monastery and the church area will become a county library. There is a good balance between housing and community facilities.

The vacant property tax could be invested in a community resource. We are sensitive to this issue. With the OPW, we considered a property a while ago. Since it was an OPW building, it had been in community service. We wanted to say "Yes", but we said "No" because the community did not want to give up that service. People would only have accepted another community service and might not have viewed housing for the homeless as such.

However, there is a great deal of low-hanging fruit. Getting even one in ten of the properties that we surveyed and costed would go a long way. This week, we examined two properties in Drumcondra with one of the deputy directors of Dublin City Council. We will examine more in Cabra and Inchicore on Friday.

I have not seen any local authority housing department that is just sitting around doing nothing. They are all very busy and stressed and are under significant pressure to deliver. For local authorities, it may be a matter of more staff resources. I have not met any housing official who has not been run off his or her feet. We are receiving great co-operation. I hope to be invited to Carlow shortly.