David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in today and for their fascinating and interesting presentations. We asked them to come in to talk about the challenges but they have also recognised all the good things that have happened and that we are perhaps victims of our own success in some ways, as we have grown so quickly. Now, there are stresses and strains in areas we may not have anticipated to the extent we should have.

Mr. Talbot spoke a lot about the housing issue, rightly so. It affects everyone, including members of my family, believe it or not. It affects everyone across the board. As Mr. Talbot said, in villages, towns and cities across the country, we see vacant houses and properties boarded up. I recently spoke to a gentleman who has ten such properties in one town. When I asked him why he did not bring them into use he said he did not have to. He is a very successful businessman. What can we do to encourage somebody like him to bring these properties into use? Serious grant aid of up to €50,000 has been made available for derelict properties and there is also funding available from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI. There is a lot of State funding available. As Mr. Talbot said, some of these properties may not need a lot of work because they have planning, connections, services and everything is done. Is bringing in the stick, perhaps through serious taxation, needed to make people sit up and take notice? What do the witnesses think about that?