Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In any county there are typically 15 to 17 communities which one can mark off on the housing application list in terms of where one would like to live. In between those communities, there is a scattering of towns and villages that do not have social housing or in which local authorities are no longer providing social housing. In county Clare there are places like Labasheeda and Lisdoonvarna which have a range of vacant properties on their main streets, with for sale and to let signs all the way along. People talk about the housing crisis but there are many properties that are under lock and key or that have been boarded up for many years. It makes sense to start turning these around. We have a policy on voids and a very positive scheme in place, to which the Minister referred earlier. We also need to look at revitalising some of our declining rural villages, in particular the string of houses up along their main streets. We need to see people living over shops again and we also need to turn around those vacant properties.

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