Mr. Gordon Daly:

As my colleague said, we would welcome any measure that would help.

As Ms Timmons stated, there is a need to constantly consider best practice in neighbouring countries. Our experience in Limerick is that the co-operation of the owner is still needed and one needs to be able to find the owner. In many cases, we have gone for compulsory acquisition because there is no engagement and the title is poor. By going down the route of using the powers under the Derelict Sites Act, when the property is vested in the council it has a clean title to be put forward for onward sale. All present appreciate how difficult conveyancing can be. In future, when we have dealt with the low-hanging fruit and properties have title issues and the owner cannot be found, there might be scope for it.