Ms Jude Sherry:

Overall, there has been improved enforcement of derelict sites There has been a 23% increase in the number of derelict properties registered. However, fewer than 2,000 are registered. There needs to be a 935% increase in those registrations for the councils to match just the derelict homes identified by GeoDirectory, which in itself is not complete. None of the data systems are complete. Unfortunately, in Ireland we do not know exactly how many homes are in the country because all the data shows different things. It is a complete mess.

The Revenue already asks homeowners when they fill out the local property tax form if the property is their primary residence. We would like Revenue to expand that question and ask is the property anybody's primary residence and, if not, is it an empty home - and we believe that should include holiday homes - or an uninhabitable home. Revenue should have that data. Owners of uninhabitable homes currently do not have to pay local property tax. They can be exempt. There are situations where the owners of derelict properties do not have to pay any property tax, which is unacceptable when the rest of us are seeing our local property tax increase.

The Deputy asked about the vacant homes tax. We identified at the time that it was designed to fail, and fail it did. The vacant homes tax is only registering between 1.5% to 3.7% of the vacant homes identified either by the census, GeoDirectory or ESB data. The percentage depends on the data set used. None of those data sets will be accurate, but that is an extremely low application of the tax.

The grants have been highly successful. We would love for them to focus primarily, as was intended when they were introduced, on homeowners who are going to live in these properties. We would like that to be combined with free DIY training to give people the opportunity to reduce costs and do some of the work themselves, if they are interested in doing so. It does not necessarily suit everyone but should be available for those who want it. There are other measures out there that we can consider.

We raised a concern that people have told us they know that the vacant homes grant is being used on holiday homes. We do not have any data in that regard. That is just hearsay, but it is a concern.

It is also a concern for us that owners could now legitimately leave their homes empty for two years, go beyond the rent pressure zone rules because they are exempt after leaving those homes empty for two years and get €50,000 to €70,000 in free money from the State. That is a concern. We are not saying the grant should be cancelled, but there is concern about who gets it and what it is used for. That needs to be checked.