Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have a question for the Minister of State, which follows on from some of the other comments about local authority funding. I raised it earlier with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. At the moment, the Department gives €50,000 for a vacant home officer every year. We know from questions I have tabled that there are only three full-time vacant home officers, with the rest being part time. I have looked for those to become permanent positions. However, when one considers that there are almost 90,000 vacant properties in the State, having a part-time person in each of the 31 local authorities trying to deal with it will not work. We have a housing crisis and a climate crisis. Properties could be turned around fairly quickly and would help to house families who badly need to be housed. At the same time, by retrofitting and repairing these properties, we could do it quickly and in the most environmentally-friendly way.

There should not be a vacant homes officer. Instead, there should be a vacant homes department in each local authority and this approach should be looked at as part of the solution to the housing crisis. In addition, there is the issue of the derelict sites levy, which I raised with the Minister of State earlier. This matter comes down to resources as well. We have 13 local authorities that do not impose any levy-----