Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will try to be brief, which the Deputy has asked me to be. He asked a good long question. I have no difficulty in saying that the derelict sites levy has not been collected properly. I have said that and have issued the figures on that. It does not work as it should do. There are other things we can do. We will bring forward the zoned land tax. I look forward to Sinn Féin's support for that because the party has never proposed any other measures. It has not brought forward any zoned land tax or activation measures in the 12-page alternative budget, which had no costings, it brought forward. We are doing things. This is being put together by the Department of Finance. It will help to activate land and impose penalties when sites are not used, and rightly so.

Vacant property is an issue. I am sure Deputy Gould has studied Housing for All. One of the pathways involves tackling vacancies because it is a real issue. To be fair to the Deputy, he highlights the issue on a regular basis. We need to make sure that vacant properties in our town and cities are made viable and used. That is why in Housing for All we published our plans for the Croí Cónaithe cities fund which will help with viability and tackling vacancies in new development in our cities.

We will come forward with new regulations and applications for above the shop living. We will have to make some very tough decisions about what we are going to do. Any measures taken heretofore with regard to above the shop living have, in my view, not worked as effectively as they should have. I will seek, and look forward to, the support of all members who really want to tackle this.

The Deputy referred to the LDA and using State-owned land for developing social and affordable housing. In Cork city and county we have said that any State land developed by the LDA must be 100% social and affordable. When that legislation was voted on in the Dáil, Deputy Gould voted against it.