Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

I welcome the seriousness with which the Minister of State is addressing this issue. Houses that are boarded up for long periods represent a running sore in estates. It is frustrating for unemployed construction workers to see these boarded up properties given that they are capable of making the necessary repairs. Even some of the people on the housing lists would prefer to refit the houses themselves rather than let them rot. If the figures about Limerick are accurate, can the Minister of State find out how houses are turned around in one week? What is being done there that is different from the rest of the country?

One of the reasons for the slow turnaround may be the requirement to tender for work. It often takes forever simply to hire a builder. If we gave local unemployed construction workers or even the people on the housing lists the opportunity, they could turn the houses around much faster. Obviously proper standards must be applied but we should consider this alternative because the cumbersome tendering process is causing lengthy and unnecessary delays in many cases.

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