Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On that final point, Mr. Hogan has reminded me of a bugbear of mine. Many villages dotted throughout rural Ireland are, effectively, derelict. Villages close to my area have between 15 and 25 derelict properties because of the nature of the ownership where the owner is deceased and the property has not been passed on, there is no title and so forth. It would be much more sensible for the Department to put money into bringing those homes back into effective use. The Government has pursued the village renewal scheme under the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Ring, and moneys have been invested in some projects that will not have a great capacity to enhance a village. A sure way of doing it is if money is provided to compulsorily purchase these buildings and bring them back into use. I know of a village where the Department has sanctioned money to build 22 local authority houses on its outskirts, yet there are 25 derelict properties in it.

Until somebody in the Department gets his or head around addressing that issue, there will be no joined-up thinking. It would achieve two objectives: it would keep people in the village, reducing the number commuting from outside, and strengthen the fabric of the village by making it more attractive for people to live there. People have started to drift out to one-off houses, even though the policy is moving away from that as climate change suggests that it is not the best way to proceed. Frankly, people are leaving villages because they are seeing buildings crumbling around them. Addressing that issue will not solve the problem, but it is an area where the Department could play a major role. First, it would address an important facet of climate change by encouraging people to live in a more built-up environment. Second, it would enhance rural villages.