Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I want to ask the Taoiseach about an issue of Government co-ordination with regard to what it is doing to tackle vacancy and dereliction. In Ireland right now, more than 9,000 people are homeless and at least 90,000 homes are vacant. That is a conservative estimate as the census put the figure for empty homes at more than 180,000. That figure excludes holiday homes and homes that were empty on the night of the census. It relates to homes that were empty during multiple inspections over three months.

In addition, some 22,000 residential buildings are derelict. Ireland has one of the highest rates of vacancy in the world. This would be scandalous at any time but in the middle of a housing crisis, with escalating rents and house prices that people cannot afford going up month after month and year after year, this is completely unacceptable. Will the Government urgently introduce a tax on vacant buildings to bring them back into use, not next year or some time in the future, but now?

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