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

I welcome this debate and the Minister's initiative, which is unique, special and important. This Bill will make provision of more affordable housing to ordinary people who would not otherwise be able to avail of it. That is why the Bill must pass and I support it.

I will also comment on matters that may help increase the volume of affordable housing that can be made available. We can look at what is happening in local authorities. Louth County Council, for example, has used CPOs to obtain 100 abandoned houses to refurbish and relet for an average of €182,000 per house. If other county councils around the country were to use their determination, grit and drive, as shown by Louth County Council, to provide homes at a reasonable affordable cost, it would be the way forward.

We can also look at local authorities using the repair and lease scheme to make houses affordable. Counties such as Waterford have spent €4 million over the past number of years on the scheme and it is a paragon of virtue, determination and drive again in this work while other county councils have done absolutely nothing and have not spent a single penny.

There are good things going on and I know the Minister wants to change the way things are happening. I urge him to place key people from his Department in positions where they can drive local authorities in the way Louth and Waterford councils are being driven. This will ensure we can spend the money that has been provided by the Minister to get people into homes. It is the way forward.

Candidates are walking the streets of Dublin canvassing for the upcoming by-election. Everywhere I go on every street I see empty homes and it is time for an empty homes tax to be introduced in the upcoming budget. The money coming in from those empty homes could be diverted to affordable housing. It is what is being done in Vancouver and it is working there. It needs to happen here now. Hundreds of houses have been occupied this way in Vancouver. They were put on the market because the owners who had left them vacant for years became afraid.

People have been put into these properties because the owners were forced to do it. We must ensure the owners of homes lying derelict in Dublin are forced to allow people live in them through an empty homes tax. We cannot sit back and let this drift on. The social cost is totally unacceptable. The Minister has my full support and it is time for the Government to act. It should not stand back from more radical measures and ensuring that the good work of local authorities is praised. The authorities that are not doing their job should be forced to do it.

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