Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My view is that the entire senior management should be concerned about voids and vacant housing. Is that the issue? Fine, but it is much more than just having a vacant housing officer. The entire corporation and local council should be seized with the need to get houses back into service as quickly as they are vacated. That is why we provided substantial funding in the July stimulus. We have brought 6,000 houses back into play that were void in the 18 months since we have been in office. These are the facts and I am very impatient with any houses that are left idle given the housing crisis that we have. The county manager, and not just the vacant housing officer - I know they are - should be seized by any vacancies to ensure that their systems are such that we do not tolerate that, that there is a complete intolerance of having houses idle when people need them.

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