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

Earlier on, I said that just under 1,400 affordable houses were delivered. The Minister is correct; 1,800 of the 4,100 target were delivered. I just wished to correct the record on that. On that issue, the Minister mentioned Lancaster Gate in Cork, which has been a very successful cost-rental scheme. I have met people who live there. I give credit where credit is due and that is a very good scheme. However, there is still a problem. We had a scheme in Glanmire. Some 800 people applied for 32 cost-rental homes. That was in Glanmire in Cork. There was another scheme of 25 cost-rental units in Balbriggan and 1,000 families applied. It is a matter of scale.

Deputy McAuliffe made a point earlier. He said it is not accurate for people to say that nothing has changed. I am not saying nothing has changed. What I am saying is that things are much worse since Deputy Darragh O'Brien became Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. That is not a personal attack but the facts are that house prices are the highest ever, rents are the highest ever and the number of people homeless is at its highest ever. I am not saying the Minister is not working. He is developing different schemes such as the tenant in situscheme, cost-rental schemes and affordable housing schemes. However, so few units are being delivered that we are actually in a worse position now.

Looking at dereliction, I put in a parliamentary question and have the response printed out here. There are 1,000 sites on the derelict sites register. Levies were imposed in respect of only 407 of these. There was no levy on just under 600 of them last year. Levies of €5.2 million were imposed but only €1 million was collected. The total outstanding in respect of the derelict sites levy is now €14.7 million. Only 75 sites of 1,000 were subject to a compulsory purchase order, CPO. Officials from the Department who are here today were in last week and I asked them about that. They are now telling me that there are five staff in the derelict sites unit in the Department. What is their role in working with local authorities? All local authorities bar one now have a vacant homes officer. Do they also cover dereliction? I am looking at these figures and it is a crime. If the Minister does not believe me, I advise him to do a Google search for "dereliction on North Main Street, Cork". It is unbelievable how people were allowed to speculate on land and allow property to collapse in the middle of cities. How many people are on the derelict sites team in the Department? What is their role? Do the vacant homes officers in each local authority also deal with dereliction? What consequences will the Minister introduce for those who own derelict properties and who speculate on them for years and, in some cases, decades? They are destroying towns, villages, cities and communities.