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

-----and why those offers are not coming because we need to revisit that.

I listened to Deputy Barry Cowen and the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, about the Bill proposed here this evening. Deputy Cowen set out clearly the advantages of the Bill in trying to fast-track and support people who want to redevelop projects. He acknowledged and made the point that current building regulations are much more applicable to new buildings than refurbishments. The Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, in his response to Deputy Cowen, identified particular areas that may have been of concern to him. That was fine as part of Second Stage. The concern I have, on which all sides of the House need to work together, is that a substantial number of Private Members' Bills have been brought forward that make no progress. If we are to be serious about this Bill and it is to have the impact that we want it to, then we need to find a mechanism to advance this Bill and address the concerns that the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy had, between Government, Opposition and all Members of this House. I acknowledge that the Government side of the House has far better expertise available to it to assist in amending this Bill.

I am strongly of the view that, in the midst of a housing crisis, our progress in bringing vacant properties back into use is not what it should be. There is probably a range of factors. Many people underestimate the scale but things have changed and we need to look at it differently. I was recently in the city centre and walked from the big tree at the top of Dorset Street, coming back from Croke Park, all the way down past Bolton Street and Capel Street. As I had time on my hands, I was looking around and people are actually living upstairs in some of the properties while adjacent properties are vacant. One can see where opportunities exist. Our challenge is to turn those opportunities into realities.

In my own constituency, I was recently driving by the Coldcut Road at the back of Liffey Valley Shopping Centre. There was a fabulous big glass building that used to be a gym. That type of gym is no longer what it was and the demand is not there for it. I noticed, and checked about this, that it is being converted into residential units. The outer exterior with the glass front is retained and it is that type of imaginative use of properties that we should attempt. When I look around our suburbs, particularly in Dublin - others will refer to rural Ireland - because of the development of large, out-of-town shopping centres, whether Liffey Valley, Blanchardstown, Dundrum or whatever, properties exist in many of our towns and villages that afford us an opportunity and we need to address them urgently. My concern is that in both the report we did as a Committee on Housing and Homelessness and in Rebuilding Ireland, it was recognised that vacant properties had a role to play and the vacant properties strategy was to be developed, and now that we are a long way on from those reports the detail of those strategies should be published.

While complimenting Deputy Cowen for bringing the Bill forward, it needs the support of Members, not just to pass Second Stage. If people believe that this Bill has a meaningful role to play and understand and buy in to the concept of the one-stop shop with regard to the administrative role and refurbishment, then this Bill needs to reach Committee Stage and to be dealt with. That requires a change in how we do our business.

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