Ms Helen McNamara:

It will work for maybe a small minority but, generally speaking, the owners of those derelict properties either do not have title or do not have the wherewithal to pay. Over the years, we have gone into the District Court and cases were lost because they were able to prove they just do not have the means, or their representatives were able to show they were not capable of doing the works. That is why it was left to be a charge on the land. It is registered in the Property Registration Authority as a charge on the land and it comes through when the property goes for sale. The compulsory purchase acquisition of those derelict properties has worked quite well for those properties because we can turn them over and hand them over for housing, and it takes out those issues of there being title difficulties because it is a freehold title that will vest in the council, so that deals with it well.