Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Vacant Housing Refurbishment Bill 2017. It would deal with a very small niche section of our housing crisis and would probably play an important part, but I too am concerned about watering down any regulation that is there for a reason. We have building regulations for specific reasons. As has been said, in many cases they are not being adhered to. Enforcement and having the bodies to be able to respond and check on these premises while they are being built and occupied will be absolutely crucial. We cannot bring in changes unless we have this in place.

Today, Dublin City Council went to court because it obtained an enforcement order to close down the premises at Nos. 12 to 14 Old County Road, next door to my constituency office. Last November and December, we noticed there was a change of use regarding the part of the premises above two shop units. We asked an enforcement officer from Dublin City Council to check the premises. The enforcement officer did so, and perhaps at the time it was not clear what was going on inside the premises, but it transpired last Thursday, when the fire officer went in, that the building was holding 62 people and charging €250 per person per month. Work out the maths on that. A slum landlord has been abusing people in that form and making approximately €15,000 a month out of these people. It is absolutely scandalous. They had subdivided all the rooms, and four bunk beds were put in to have as many people in there as possible. These were mainly Brazilian people. We saw people coming and going. There is no way one would have thought there were 62 people in there. My office is open from 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. and we saw a certain number of people going in and out. This sort of thing has to stop. It is only through enforcement and inspection all the time in this regard that we can check these things out. We know there are more premises around Dublin in the same situation. It is very similar to the case in Dún Laoghaire, which happened not so long ago, where units were being abused. Unless we have enforcement and the bodies and fire officers to be able to check these premises, no legislation will change the outcome of what could happen. One thing we do not want is to build substandard premises for people to live in.

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