Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There was a meeting the other day and all the councillors and officials agreed.

The Minister of State mentioned the voids that have been returned. There is no funding to return more voids in Dublin City Council. I have spoken to the officials. We might have got so many returned but those would have been in a natural progression anyway had they been dealt with and the housing budget not cut by over €1.2 billion from 2008 to date. We cut the housing budget. That is reason the voids built up. There would have been a natural flow.

In terms of the amendment, does the Minister of State realise there are in-fill sites, some of which are large, all over Dublin? We also have areas that could be identified and counted as derelict or vacant sites and we have parks, which are not official parks but places where children play. Are we to start levying those? We also have regeneration sites, such as O'Devaney Gardens. In Ballymun, the regeneration has left a large number of sites. Are we to start levying those? There would be a rush to sell them off. That is what will happen. There will be a drive towards privatisation instead of building more social housing on these areas which is what is required.

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