Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. This is an area in which I have a great interest. It is very frustrating to see in my community and while travelling in County Kerry and throughout the country so many vacant units in the middle of a housing crisis. It is critical that we provide incentives to get these derelict properties on to the market, as is the stick which is coming in the vacant property tax. It is vital that we are imaginative in the types of incentives we can provide to people who are currently holding these types of properties in order to make them available on the market with first-time buyers having an advantage. In that respect, there should be a holiday or brief window during which owners selling to a first-time buyer would have a capital gains tax holiday. We must also provide grant aid for doing up these properties as it is expensive to do so, both for materials and labour.

Extending the help-to-buy scheme to these properties is also critically important. They will become new units because they are currently not occupied. It is important, therefore, that the scheme is extended to such properties throughout the countryside, and not just in towns and villages.

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