Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the issue. I wish to offer some insight into what is happening in Cork City Council, for example, and to share some ideas that might assist to address the issues. I do not expect the Government to be able to resolve every issue that presents. I understand the constraints under which the Government operates. However, we might be able to address some of the problems with some clever initiatives.

Approximately 500 units in Cork are vacant at any one time. Many of them are boarded up or shuttered. In effect, when a house is given back to the city council due to a transfer or is taken in charge for whatever reason, an inspection is carried out and more than likely the house is left vacant for a while before being boarded up at a later stage. Units can be vacant for as long as two or three years. I was in Mary Aikenhead Place on the north side of Cork city recently where 11 of the finest apartments are vacant, some of them for nearly three years. That is the situation in one small community while at the same time more than 8,000 people are on the housing list. I do not point the finger at Cork City Council or the Government but this is the practical reality on the ground. The Minister of State, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, is aware of the situation in her constituency. It is difficult to reconcile having 8,000 people waiting for housing and at the same time there being 500 houses vacant and decaying.

When the city council gets around to allocating a house, it must first rip out the contents and put in new furnishings. When a house becomes vacant, it could be presented to a family who would be willing to work on the house themselves or get a recognised contractor to do the work. One could reward such effort and initiative by transferring part ownership to the tenant. That would take the problem off the city council's hands. This is not a political point; it is an observation. Families are under huge pressure and stress on waiting lists, some of them for eight years or nine years, and it is difficult to reconcile the idea of vacant houses throughout Cork city. The population of Cork city and county is about one tenth of the overall population – it has a better percentage in hurling All-Irelands - but in general if it is happening in Cork, it is happening elsewhere throughout the country. We have potentially in excess of 5,000 boarded-up units across the State. Thousands of families could be granted such houses by local authorities and enter into a formal arrangement to allow for a transfer of ownership over a period to reward the tenants who get the house for their investment in it. They could start paying a partial rent or undertake a capital purchase over a period.

The Government will not resolve the problem of the number of vacant houses in the coming years with its current resources and on the basis of the allocation to Cork City Council. The number of vacant houses will not be significantly reduced. Currently, Cork City Council is responsible for approximately 50 completions a year. There are approximately 500 vacant units and approximately 180 allocations, on average 15 a month. With the best will in the world, given the capital grants made available to Cork City Council for completions, progress will not be made and we will go backwards. That is an observation as opposed to a political point. It is a fact. We must be imaginative in our response.

People ask why the public is disconnected from politics and why they say politicians are all the one. They ask why we cannot do the practical things right and make a difference in people’s lives. The proposal I outlined would be one simple way to do that. It is difficult to reconcile the idea that a house is taken in charge by the city council, that it inspects it, waits until a few stones are thrown through a window or a couple of gurriers climb in the back window and strip it and then the council puts up shutters, leaves the property for two years while waiting for a grant to come through to refurbish the house that was in perfect condition the day it was vacated, in order to give it to a family that needed the house two years previously and would have been willing to go into it and refurbish it on a partial basis or as they went along.

I visited some of the houses to which I refer. They are in perfect condition when they are handed over. The furnishings are of good quality and the bathrooms and kitchens are in good order. All that is required is new carpets and paint and for the electrics to be checked. That should not take two and a half years. The Minister of State should consider the notion of a partial transfer of ownership. The tenants could make a partial purchase and pay the remainder in rent. A scheme could be worked out. The Minister of State should consider such an approach to address vacant properties.

When one gives a person a sense of ownership, he or she responds in kind because it is in one’s interest to respond in such a way. It is in the interests of a person to invest in a property if it is his or her home for a long period. That is a way to address a problem local authorities cannot address currently. If Cork City Council is doing 50 completions in a year and there are 500 vacant properties, it will never fully address the problem. We are faced with people continually coming to constituency offices saying their son, daughter or family are waiting for a house for up to seven years while at the same time there is a house next door to their mother, family home or community that has been idle for two years and is now trashed and boarded up. I urge the Minister of State to examine the issue for many reasons because it would allow people to move into homes immediately which would benefit communities and assist local authorities, given that with the current capital allocation and resources and a cap on recruitment of staff, they will never be able to resolve the situation in the short to medium term. In the meantime, such units as I described at Mary Aikenhead Place and elsewhere throughout Cork city will lie vacant, vandalised, in decay and diminish communities. I urge the Minister of State to examine the issue as a matter of urgency as it might assist individuals and communities.

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