Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is a substantial number of vacant houses right across the country. We have a housing crisis and we have to look at building as many houses as possible but we have 1.75 million existing houses and we must do our utmost to ensure that as many of those homes are occupied as possible. The number of those vacant at any one time varies at present between 50,000 and 180,000 depending on the source. Every effort must be taken to ensure that we maximise the occupancy of existing housing.

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