Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too wish to be associated with the expressions of sympathy to the Murphy family on the senseless murder of Ashling Murphy. I support the cross-party and cross-group approach to the issue of violence against women.

I will raise a separate issue with the Taoiseach. The Northern and Western Regional Assembly has just published a report on regional vacancy and dereliction, which shows that 44,905 residential and commercial properties are empty in the five Connacht counties and the three Border counties of Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan. This is one third higher than Ireland's total national annual housing requirement of 33,000 homes. There are whole streets in our towns and villages that have not had a football kicked on them in a generation. Some 40% of the vacant homes in this country are in these eight counties. Many of them are vacant family homes close to schools and services and also have 1,000 Mbps broadband outside their doors.

The housing crisis is not just about a lack of houses. It is also about our failure to have empty homes occupied by families, especially those in our towns and villages. The fact is that if these homes were occupied, it would have an immediate dividend to the State, rural Ireland and homeless families. I have been making this point for some years. Thankfully, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Government have taken on board my suggestions. A whole section of the new Housing for All strategy is focused on how we can bring families back into empty houses throughout our country. However, that strategy was published last September and we still await its implementation.

To take County Roscommon as an example, we have a perverse situation in that we have a vacancy rate of 14% and 4,090 empty homes in the county but just 18 homes for rent and 230 for sale, according to daft.ie. Local auctioneers have waiting lists of people looking to buy or rent family homes. In east Galway, where demand for housing is considerably higher, many of our villages do not have access to any wastewater treatment facilities. In fact, in a number of instances, raw sewage is running through the streets.

There needs to be a strategic approach to addressing this problem, rather than trying to dump responsibility back on councils, which have not been able to utilise the repair and leasing scheme to bring vacant properties in need of repair back into use for social housing or repair the 3,900 local authority houses that remain empty throughout our country.

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