Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I feel as though I am at born-again revival listening to Deputies from the Government parties talking about thousands of vacant and derelict properties. The official figure is more than 92,000. In Cork city and county - I thank Deputy O'Connor for raising the question - there are more than 9,000 vacant properties. The Minister indicated that he has been travelling throughout the State examining the vacancies and stated it is shocking. Did he just wake up this morning and realise that?

When the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, was the Minister with responsibility for housing - I want to educate people about this - he came to Cork City Council in that capacity five years ago and I told him to examine the fair deal scheme, which the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, just mentioned. I said the same to the Eoghan Murphy, who succeeded the Minister, Deputy Coveney, two years ago. They both said they would examine the issue and two years ago the then Minister talked about above-shop living as well. We discussed that in Cork City Council years ago.

The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, referred to CPOs. Parts of Cork city, on our main streets, that Cork City Council is finally CPOing were derelict and vacant for more than 20 years, in virtually every street in Cork. The Minister's party was in the confidence and supply agreement with Fine Gael and allowed this to happen.

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