Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I take a slightly different view to Senator Cummins on the problems. I do not think it is the case that one local authority is doing really well and others are not. In fact all of the figures for local authorities are poor. It is just that some are much poorer than others. This is no criticism of the staff in local authorities. I do not envy the job they have. When we see just 8% of the repair and lease target met across all local authorities over five years, we begin to see Professor Murphy's point about a systemic problem and this is the more important point to raise.

We have spoken about data and some of the structures. My specific questions are for Mr. Grimes and Mr. Shakespeare and to Professor Murphy and Anois. Looking ahead, if we want to ramp up bringing back into use vacant and derelict properties, what do we need to change with regard to the financing and types of schemes we are running to ensure any local authority that wants to ramp up its bringing back into use of vacant units, especially for mixed use for social, affordable and non-residential, can do so? From the experience of Mr. Shakespeare and Mr. Grimes, what would be helpful in terms of flexibility in the schemes? Do Professor Murphy and Anois have lessons from other jurisdictions, perhaps Scotland or elsewhere, on what else they are doing on the financing and structure of the schemes to tackle this issue?