Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Thank you. I am conscious of time. The first thing I look for every year is the derelict sites register and how much is collected by each local authority. That legislation was passed 32 years ago and it should be enforced. If it cannot be enforced by a local authority, then the Minister should be notified as to why not. I have legislation that I am hoping to bring in along those lines. The whole country is blighted by dereliction. Even with landlords - or landholders, as I would call them - going in and doing it up or just painting it, we are in the middle of a housing emergency and I do not accept any excuses, to be honest. If people do not have the money to buy it or do it up, the property should be the subject of a CPO. If money is needed by local authorities, the Minister should be asked for that money. There are no excuses now for houses lying idle when we are in the middle of an emergency. If the councils need resources, they should ask and we will do everything in this committee to back them up. We know that for years the resources were not there but the Minister is saying they are there now. If the Minister is truthful in his word, he will give the councils whatever they need.

On another question, are there derelict sites teams in place to tackle dereliction? Are we talking about one person or multiple people? The same question applies to vacancy. I believe there should be a team in every local authority and that should be their sole job. I am not talking about a person doing three jobs - that should be their job.