Ms Maria Graham:

Many of the things we are hearing from the committee would be reflected in many of the discussions around derelict sites. We are collating the views of local authorities on changes that could be made to the legislation or operationally that would improve the operation of the Act. That is something we are looking at. We are very willing to take action if ideas come forward for changing the legislation in some way to make it more workable. An important dimension is the compulsory purchase piece, which the Law Reform Commission is looking at in depth. That will also come up in the context of the planning review because these are complex CPO arrangements. Many local authorities, such as those in Waterford and Limerick, and Louth to some extent, have been very successful in their use of CPO powers, particularly for social housing.

Some of it is 19th-century legislation so that is an area that needs to better reflect a modern legislative code. That is one of the aspects with which we will not be able to deal within a review.