Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am not accusing the Government of not having a strategy. The problem is that we do not see the progress and this is causing alarm. It is as if the Government is pulling rubber levers to no effect. Nothing is happening on the ground. The Minister is right that we did much work to bring back voids and that was a successful initiative, but now we need the same approach to vacant houses. We cannot in good conscience allow a situation to stand where there are 27 vacant homes for every person in emergency accommodation. We need to identify those homes and ask why they are vacant. Can we bring them back? Can we incentivise those who own them or are in possession of them to bring them back? That is the sort of concrete measure that we need. Is the Minister of the view that the strategy is working fine and that everything is on course or do we need to up our game significantly to ensure that the crushing social issue of our time is properly addressed?

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