Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The use of the derelict sites Act varies hugely across the local authorities in the State.

I have a question for the local authority representatives, in particular those from Waterford, because according to the statistics, it seems to be one of the more reluctant local authorities to utilise the Derelict Sites Act. Is the problem legislative deficiencies in the Act itself? Is it a lack of resources, either human resources or financial resources, required to use the Act? Anybody can answer any question but I would specifically like to hear from the local authorities on this one.

Regarding legislative deficiencies, Ms Sherry and Dr. O'Connor from Anois pointed to Scotland as having strengths and mentioned compulsory sales orders as one example of the comparative strengths of the Scottish regime. Are there others? I ask the witnesses to be succinct when replying.

Going back to the local authorities, would they find compulsory sales orders more attractive than compulsory purchase orders? This would mean they could get an order stating something had to be sold on the open market, presumably by public auction, and let the market decide its value and what would be done with it. Inevitably most people would agree there could be commercial opportunities for some derelict sites.

I am not an architect and I do not have Deputy Duffy's level of expertise. He mentioned the difficulty with bringing old buildings back and the expense. My understanding is that an old building is not subject to new build regulations if it is maintained but there is a bit of a grey area if substantial construction work is required. If something is being brought back from dereliction, there may be an argument that it involves substantial construction work and then it may be subject to the building regulations. Perhaps this is a question particularly for Professor Murphy to answer. Is this the case? Nobody is suggesting they should be turned into hovels or substandard accommodation, but account needs to be taken of the fact they are very old buildings and it will be very difficult to achieve A status insulation. Is there a case to be made for a specific project or regime covering old buildings being brought back into use so they may not have to meet the very highest standards? I do not suggest that substandard accommodation should be acceptable but there should be something lower. It is something that Shelley McNamara, and notwithstanding that she is my namesake and is from Clare, I have never met her, has proposed by way of trying to bring our towns and town centres back from dereliction.