Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 8 March 2018

Public Accounts Committee

2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 8: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Local Government Fund Financial Statement 2016
Special Report No. 97 of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the Administration and Collection of Motor Taxes

9:00 am

Photo of Catherine ConnollyCatherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is very important and I appreciate it. On that level, the policy is good. On the ground, however, I take the example of Galway again. I live in the Claddagh area where there is a house which has been empty for almost two years for no reason. I will give some examples and then relate them back to the general position. That house has been empty for almost two years and I pass it regularly. I have checked and been told that it is allocated but not occupied. We are into the language of Kafka as to the reasons it might be empty. One finds it is not really empty in that it has been allocated but one then realises it is not occupied. At any given time in Galway, we have 70 empty houses. We have an oversight body looking at how to improve things, but at any given time we have 70 empty houses. Some of that is due to major refurbishment, but most of them are empty for no good reason. I am trying to relate the practice on the ground to the theory. No house should be empty for longer than three or four weeks before it is turned over and allocated. This is an example from a major city during a major housing crisis. We have an oversight audit commission, an audit system and, at any given time, that number of empty houses. Where does the Department come in?

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