Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There is much talk of carrots but very little talk of sticks. We have waited far too long for a vacant sites tax and some form of "use it or lose it" levy that would be applied to derelict sites. I said earlier that the dereliction we see all around us shames us. It has significant societal, social and economic impacts. The derelict sites that are available to us present a great opportunity for renovation, refurbishment and being brought into use for housing. We speak a lot about developing new sites and even infill sites in towns and city centres. However, we do not focus as much as we ought to on derelict sites. I know the Minister has spoken publicly about the provision of grants of up to €30,000. Is the idea that this would be a grant to purchase a property or a grant to refurbish a property? Is it significant and substantial enough to enable us to tackle this issue comprehensively?

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