Dr. Frank O'Connor:

I thank the Cathaoirleach, committee members, attendees and observers for the opportunity for Ms Sherry and I to present. The most destructive myth in Ireland is that our Constitution protects private property above all else, when it clearly states that private property rights ought to be regulated by principles of social justice and common good. The State is not upholding its side of this foundational social contract by allowing extreme levels of vacancy and dereliction to persist. This is a dereliction of duty.

Dereliction is a pollutant that visually reflects inequalities in society. When many people are struggling to find a secure and affordable home or dying on our streets, others are allowed to leave homes empty with no repercussions. This is a social crime and a scandalous waste of precious resources that is actively reducing the market supply of properties and increasing prices and rents. High levels of vacancy and dereliction have a detrimental impact on community well-being, sense of place, physical and mental health and the local environment and economy. This is compounded by the excessive loss of heritage through neglect and destruction.

Construction is already the most wasteful sector in Ireland, so bringing buildings back into use is the best way to transition to a circular economy, where existing buildings are treated as valuable material banks by ensuring all materials are retained at their highest value, in their current structure, potentially saving millions of tonnes of embedded carbon.

Simply put, the most sustainable building is the existing one and we need urgently to abolish demolish and bring every building back into use.

In June 2020, we started a daily dose of dereliction through a Twitter thread which, over one year, amassed nearly 450 derelict properties and sites, all within a 2 km radius of Cork city centre island. Viewed by millions, this daily shining a light has caused the Irish nation to wake up to the reality that we have normalised derelict Ireland for far too long.

In March, we released the report This is Derelict Ireland, a pro bonostudy that debunks ten deadly myths of dereliction. It is the first ever study of its scale and depth in Ireland and the conclusion of two year's research analysing 340 derelict properties. This has led to a national movement with hundreds of people across Ireland sharing images of derelict Ireland. To complement this online movement, we created a walking festival to end dereliction, in collaboration with the Community Action Tenants Union, CATU, Cork. The first festival was in Cork City in September and the second one took place in Dublin with Reclaim Our Spaces and CATU Ireland.