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

I thank the Deputy. On the last point, if something is left open-ended, people may long-finger making those changes. We have seen an increase year on year. Once the regulations were due to expire, many people asked if we could extend it further. It is important to do it in reasonable medium-sized timeframes. If I was to leave it openended, it may not have the focus to suggest we are serious about tackling vacancy now, which everyone is.

On the one-stop shop issue, feedback I get around fire certification and other things like that and going to different offices for different things suggests there is more we can do, particularly on above-shop etc. We are getting better at it. I will keep that under review. Any other changes we can make that will improve the process, we will not delay making them. I would like to see what effect these have and to give a lead time. I think they will be broadly welcomed and there will be a good response, but I stand to be corrected. We are responding to what has been looked for on the ground.

Vacant homes officers are important. I have given approval for 250 new posts in housing divisions in all 31 local authorities. There are 211 outside Dublin and 39 in Dublin. We want the vacant homes officers, as we debated in the Dáil a few weeks ago, to be stand-alone positions. We are creating a vacancy unit in my Department to have that focus. It makes sense to do so. Those parts are being advertised. People have to be interviewed. People have to be employed. Some of our local authorities have full-time vacancy officers in place, but not many. We want to get all 31 up to that space. Some local authorities, depending on size, will need more than one. We will provide that support for them.