Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I hope the Acting Chairman will be pleasant, as he always is. My point is that there are builders who are committed to building and they face planning difficulties. It is right and proper in my view that the Government and the Department facilitates transparent success in planning permissions that may have been given some years ago but which may not yet have been taken up where builders are genuinely ready to go. That is a huge problem. Thousands of houses are being held up around the country on foot of planning technicalities. It is not that permission was not given in the first place, but that the permissions have run out before the funding to finish the houses has become available. That is why the legislation is very important.

I thank the Acting Chairman for listening to me so kindly. Other Members made the point that we must build houses, but there are over 160,000 empty homes in this country. In Dublin alone, there are over 31,000 empty homes. Keys are not being turned in front doors and bedrooms are not being slept in because there are no families in those houses. While it is not a provision in this particular Bill, part of the process must be a tax on empty homes which are not principal private residences to bring them into commission for families. That is what is happening in other jurisdictions and it is what needs to happen here. I support the ministerial amendments.

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