Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am conscious that the resources of the Revenue Commissioners are very limited so, while I agree with a lot of what was suggested by the previous speaker, unless Revenue gets the 500 extra staff it was promised I have no idea how they would be able to do such a report. We had a report on a specific area of corporation tax which was carried out by the academic, Seamus Coffey, and I suggest something along those lines. The data need to be collected and identified. There is a particular problem with commercial premises across the country, where the ground floors have not reopened and the upper floors are empty. There are complex issues with banks which are pursuing the owners of such premises but I am sure that, in many towns and cities, a significant percentage of upper floors can be utilised. There is not much of chance of it, however, in the context of what we know of the complications with the banks. I support the idea of a report but I do not see where the resources are to get a meaningful report that will set out the actions that could be taken to address some of the issues.

In the RTÉ programme earlier this week, it was very clear that, in two or three of the worst cases where there were large numbers of people, the ground floors and rears of the premises in question had been commercial premises. Rackrenting landlords had cleared out the bottom floors and crammed in bunk beds, resulting in incredible abuse. I ask the Minister to come back with proposals and additional staff, or to set up a commission overseen by somebody like Seamus Coffey. The statistics from the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment show that there are vacant, boarded-up premises in towns all over the country where people might want to rent them and it would be useful to do something along these lines.

I make door-to-door calls around my constituency in Dublin and I am not sure the figures reflect what is available in my constituency. There are serious problems for many families as regards the HSE where a relative is in hospital but intends to come home again. Often this is not realistic and these are sensitive situations but something can be done to address them, despite the complex legal, technical, personal and family issues.