Mr. Kieran Kehoe:

In our experience in Waterford, there are very few properties on the derelict sites register but we have been active in tackling dereliction through other mechanisms. We found it was not an effective mechanism in terms of dealing with the end product. If a property is placed on the register, it is subject to a 7%, formerly 3%, levy. It is an administrative burden for very little return. We attacked the issue through different mechanisms. We issued compulsory purchase orders, CPOs, rather than taking Mr. Daly's approach of compulsory acquisition. Through the Housing Act, we issued CPOs for more than 54 properties in five years and brought them back into productive use. Approximately half of them went into our housing stock and we put the other half back onto the market. Different authorities chose different mechanisms to get to the end result. That is how we dealt with it. We did not use the Derelict Sites Act to any great extent.