John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My concern about that comment is that the other measures the Minister intends to make are not working. The purpose of the three-year period is to bring supply on stream. If supply comes on stream and the Minister's policies are successful, there will not be a spike. That is my real concern. This is a temporary measure but it must be underpinned by the delivery of additional units to the market. They will come in two ways. They will come through the construction of new builds, which is a little slower, and the use of vacant units. We have referred to the issue of vacant units time and again and I am disappointed at the rate of progress that has been made on it. I know that a pilot scheme was funded in the budget and that there was an allocation of €6 million for 150 or so units. However, that particular area needs to be dealt with more aggressively and quickly. This is a housing crisis. It has to be quicker and easier to bring vacant units back into use than it is to build new units.

I am not saying to do one or the other. However, the vacant units need to be returned to use while the building projects are under way. Having read the reports, I am still disappointed that this is something to be initiated. There is a pilot under way but it needs to be more ambitious. I do not see that ambition in terms of the vacant units. I have driven around my area and other parts of Dublin and looked at these units. I have seen houses that banks have moved on and that have been derelict for a year or two. There are different ways of dealing with this issue. I feel passionate about those vacant units. I am not suggesting that every vacant unit in Dublin or throughout the country is suitable for housing. There are 40,000 vacant units in Dublin.

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