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

I would be interested to hear more from the Deputies who tabled these amendments about the logic of them. Setting aside the debate we just had about the imposition of this levy on local authorities, with which we disagree with for all of the reasons already discussed, the levy is not a bad idea. The conditions the Minister has attached to it are reasonable, although open to interpretation. Is there any area of the country that does not have a need for social housing at present? I cannot think of any. Perhaps there is. Certainly, in all of the urban centres there are ridiculously long waiting lists, of 18 years and rising in the case of Dún Laoghaire. Is there anywhere in the country where there is no waiting list? If that is the case, people would flock there from Dublin. While it is reasonable to be targeted, I do not fully understand some of the conditions the Minister has attached to it. However, the basic principle is not a bad one.

An issue I wish to raise in the context of this group of amendments is one we discussed on Committee Stage. I did not submit an amendment because I am not sure how to go about it, but I raised it on that Stage and wish to raise it again. The Government has the resources to examine it and perhaps come forward with a proposal, even in the Seanad. The issue is privately owned dwellings that are empty. Quite correctly, the Minister has excluded private homes which are usually inhabited by the owners of those homes. That is entirely reasonable. Any measure we would wish to take would have to ensure that we do not end up seizing the homes of ordinary people. However, in other parts of Europe where a house is privately owned, is not inhabited for long periods of time and is just sitting empty, there are measures in place to take those properties and give them to people who need social housing. There should be a provision in this Bill to focus on this as well.

We are not talking about sites suitable for the development of housing, but physical houses that are sitting empty for whatever reason and into which people could move. There would have to be a series of criteria around it so one does not end up unfairly targeting people who might have a legitimate reason for not inhabiting their house for periods of time. None the less, it would target the real phenomenon of houses simply sitting empty for years when people could be living in them. We need a provision in that area. Perhaps the Minister would address that and let us know if he intends to bring forward some type of amendment in that regard in the Seanad.

See this speech in context