Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Hopefully.

There are also many derelict homes outside towns. Perhaps there are as many in rural areas as urban areas. I appreciate that the focus in Limerick has been on Limerick city for very obvious reasons. I welcome that but there is a lot of scope to move out. I say this not just in respect of Limerick but also in respect of every other county, including Clare. There is quite a lot of dereliction in rural areas. It might be less detrimental to the fabric of the community in a rural area, by definition, but it still would be covered by the Act.

I am sorry for focusing so much on Mr. Daly. He mentioned the risk involved in the CPO process. I asked whether there was merit in a compulsory sales order rather than a compulsory purchase order. In reply to my questionnaire, ten local authorities supported or would be interested in the proposal, six were opposed to it and three had no comment. In the responses to the questions I asked on legislative changes that would be beneficial, two respondents referred to being able to dispose of a site without going through the section 183 process. Some local authorities have answered on what they did with sites after the issuing of a CPO. Many just want to prevent sites from remaining derelict and aim to sell the property again as quickly as possible. In Scotland, it is possible to issue a compulsory sales order. In effect, the property is put on the open market. Obviously, the purchaser would have to commit to not leaving the site in a state of dereliction. The local authority would have less risk in the process and not be left with a site for which it has paid a lot of money. The market would bear the risk more. Do the witnesses see any merit in that type of approach or legislative proposal?