Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of our guests for attending. I especially want to thank Ms Sherry and Dr. O'Connor for the work they have done in Cork and nationally in terms of sparking a valuable conversation on this. I would encourage them to keep up the work they are doing. There is nothing more frustrating and anger-making for people than seeing vacant, derelict buildings that are not in use, especially those who are struggling to buy, paying very high rents or at risk of homelessness. It really gets them in the gut and is like a kick in the teeth. It is a huge problem for the wider community as well in terms of how wasteful it is and the negative effect it has on an area. It is vital that we introduce a vacant homes tax as quickly as possible for the reasons outlined by Ms Murphy. While it must be economically viable to bring properties back into use, there must also be disincentives for people to hang on to unused buildings.

My question relates to the opening statement from Ms Sherry and Dr. O' Connor. The appendix contains a figure for the number of derelict homes, as counted by GeoDirectory, of 22,754. This does not include commercial buildings so the figure could be significantly higher if such buildings were included. In contrast, there are only 1,548 derelict properties on the derelict sites registers across Ireland. Why are so many derelict buildings not making it on to the derelict sites register? That question is for Dublin City Council initially and then for Ms Murphy, Ms Sherry and Dr. O'Connor.