Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This speaks to a broader issue with the Bill, and I said this earlier in front of a Minister of State here. Every stakeholder that we speak to now is very concerned about the number of amendments being made to this Bill as it is in process by the Government. There is a sense out there that the legislation was produced prematurely before the ducks were in a row. It does not make sense to have a separate CPO Bill when this legislation is going through the Houses with CPO provisions. I am glad to hear the Minister say he will review the Labour Party's amendments. That is very positive. I will not press them on this Stage on that basis, but it does beg the question as to whether this Bill was produced at the right time or if more time should have been taken to prepare a more finalised text to come before the Oireachtas.

In terms of the local authority CPO issue, the Minister is quite right that there are local authorities that are much more efficient and proactive about using existing mechanisms to tackle vacancy and dereliction. It has taken Dublin City Council some time to get on top of this issue but there are now some CPOs going through, which is very welcome, to tackle vacant buildings to bring them back into use for housing. The lack of consistency across local authorities in this regard, though, is a very serious issue. It does need to be addressed through central legislation and policy. I am thinking about the lack of consistency in applying the Croí Cónaithe scheme and the tenant in situ scheme. I am certainly hearing from so many people in different counties in this regard. I am digressing, but the Minister did start this discussion about consistency among local authorities.