Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to respond to the Minister's comment about local authorities. The situation in Dublin is very different from the situation in rural areas. The difficulty is that local authorities are not purchasing these vacant houses in villages and smaller towns because there is not a demand for housing in those villages. There are a number of villages with a large amount of vacant residential accommodation, but local authorities are not interested in purchasing this because they do not have any or have few people on their housing lists or the people on their housing lists are single people or require one- or two-bedroom accommodation, whereas these are family homes. If we are going to rely on local authorities to bring life back into these smaller villages, we might as well throw in the towel now. What we are talking about are families living in urban areas who are seeking housing and who would relocate back to these communities where there is fibre optic cable outside the door and where it would be attractive for them to purchase a property. It would probably be at a lower price and probably within their capacity to service the mortgage. Having this additional incentive will encourage them to start looking actively at these properties and bring life back into communities in which local authorities are not interested at present.