Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their opening statements and acknowledge the enormous work that has been done. Project Ireland 2040 sets ambitious targets and goals for making Ireland a better country for all. I like that "for all". We tended not to have the same distribution across the country. I also see echoing through the statements today local and regional ambition and, ultimately, national impact. It is going to take time but I acknowledge it and can see the work. I have been on this committee previously and I know we have repeated many issues. Everything is slow. As Ms Graham rightly said, we have had Covid and other issues.

The Waterford North Quays project is amazing and highly ambitious. It has had some setbacks and bad publicity in respect of parts of it not going ahead. I am aware €81 million was set out in ERDF funding for that phase of the projects. The officials might let the committee know more about that, if not today then at some point.

The other recurring issue is resources. Somebody just mentioned compulsory purchase orders. The local authorities will tell us that they have no funding for compulsory purchase or for the protracted litigation that goes into all of these issues. The officials might address that. Ms Graham talked about resources into the future but we need to hear about resources now. We need to see tracking, timelines and delivery.

One of the biggest issues of concern is that of the local authorities themselves. I know these are areas Ms Graham covers; I apologise that I am directing all my questions at her. The local authority declaration of vacant properties is an extraordinary document. I have had opportunity to look at one and have seen properties omitted from it. It has been raised with me by councillors that certain properties are not included. How verifiable and accurate is that list? Where I live in Dún Laoghaire, the local authority is presiding over dereliction in many parts. There are substantial sites with major town centre zoning that have been derelict for up to 20 years. It is extraordinary. I took the time early this morning to walk around these properties again to double-check if there had been a miracle since I was there last week but nothing has changed. They put up their hands and say the chief executive wants this and that and we might have social housing. It is crazy stuff. Some of these are protected structures so that is a challenge. They do not all have to remain protected structures, however. There is a process of delisting. I would not encourage this but in some cases protected structure status may not be warranted. That is not something I like to talk about too often as I am very committed to protected structures and our built heritage.

I do not know if any of the officials read an article in the Irish Examinerby Darragh Bermingham recently. Councillor Annemarie Ryan Shiner in County Tipperary raised the article. She acknowledged the great work the Heritage Council has done on the collaborative town centre health check. When is that going to be rolled out across every local authority? It works; people are speaking about it and it appears to be very successful. I would like the officials to talk about that.

We are talking about vacancies and dereliction today. Some of the harbour port companies are presiding over massive dereliction of viable and nice property in major areas where people would want to live and do business. We have the Office of Public Works. There are two Garda stations in close proximity to me, in Dalkey and Kill of the Grange, that have been empty for nine and ten years. We know there needs to be co-ordination on issues. We need to look at the Defence Forces, dare I say it. There are very substantial lands out in Thornton Hall. What are we going to do with them? Who is going to go out there? Can we do property swaps? We have to be realistic and look at that.

I have asked enough questions. There are some issues. I am concerned with the power the Department is investing in local authority officials, not in the councillors but in the officials. They have had this for a long time. I ask the officials to look specifically at the properties that are under the ownership of local authorities and to come back to us in three months with a detailed report. We need to ask these city and county managers what is going on here. It is very important that the vacant housing officers should be full time. It should not be a matter of chief executives moving people around buildings and calling them a bit of this and a bit of that. We want full-time vacant housing officers and town centre offices. I thank the witnesses for coming in. There are really important initiatives happening here and I commend all those involved.