Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This proposal is a very good one and the legislation is excellent. Conservation is a good thing not a bad thing and we should and, in many cases, do encourage it. The conservation and renewal of older buildings while addressing energy ratings and other issues make a great deal of sense. While I am not talking about anybody in the room, some people say conservation is bad or does not make sense. The quality of older materials is far superior to that of many modern ones used in the so-called buildings we had during the boom. Those materials are much more substantial and will last a hell of a lot longer. The buildings are old but they are still standing. Some of them have been there for hundreds of years. I am not familiar with the Georgian group in Dublin to which the Deputy referred, but I have personal knowledge of a listed building where we took the guys who had very kindly knocked it down to the High Court and made them rebuild it with handmade bricks. We had a great deal of help from the Irish Georgian Society and conservation architects like Mr. John Redmill, who is extremely well known. There are many people with a lot of knowledge who would like to conserve and restore older buildings in our town centres and rundown areas. If we could ask them, they would set up a unit. Having spoken to people, they are quite prepared to work on this and to assist and help in every possible way to get the old buildings restored to the greatest extent possible. Having regard to the costs, taxation was mentioned. We should incentivise the conservation and reconstruction of these buildings.

I have some notes on the census but I will leave my questions to the officials when they come in. Clearly, the census indicates that there are areas in all our small or large towns and cities where there are higher rates of vacancy or, in many cases, dereliction. Those areas are colour coded. Where the higher vacancy rates occur is where this work needs to be done because people are not living there anymore. We could look at the creation of zones within the larger urban areas to fast-track planning while definitively meeting all fire safety and appropriate construction regulations. I would certainly favour making it a quicker process.

There is a great deal that is positive in what is proposed here. As a society, we seem to rely too much on our Departments and local authorities to do everything. They have failed the test so far in the housing crisis. Different local authorities have different skill mixes. I do not know if people here remember the national building agency, but it was a very efficient vehicle for the design, construction and delivery of houses and apartments in local authority areas. If we went back to that model and, for example, Louth County Council wanted to build 50 houses, the agency could design and manage the process in a very professional and efficient way. We would not need to start from scratch again because I presume the people involved are still employed by the public service. We should bring them together again as a dynamic force to drive this forward. They have all the resources, technical knowledge, expertise and skills local authorities would not otherwise have. That is the gap I see; the absence of a streamlined, fast-track administrative procedure with the appropriate and proper professionals available nationally to drive it. If this legislation succeeds, which I hope it does, it will be the Oireachtas working together collectively to ensure the needs of our citizens are met and that the rundown areas in our towns and cities are inhabited again. I very much welcome the proposal.