Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is a fact that Ireland ranks tenth highest in the world in terms of the proportion of homes that are vacant. Almost all of the concentration on finding solutions to our chronic shortage of accommodation has been centred on building new homes. Although necessary, this takes a great amount of time and money. For many years, there has been a considerable shortfall in the number of homes being built. While the rate of construction has stepped up considerably, it will be a long time before supply catches up with demand, if it ever does.

There are thousands upon thousands of habitable homes lying idle in our villages, towns and cities. Many of them only need a little attention to bring them up to a standard where they can become homes for families. Others only need an adjustment by the Government of the rules governing the fair deal scheme to see them made available on the rental market.

The most recent GeoDirectory residential buildings report showed that there were more than 90,000 vacant dwellings across the country, with the bulk along the west coast. More than one third of those vacant dwellings are located in counties Mayo, Donegal and Galway. The census of population that is currently under way will give a good picture of vacancy rates throughout the country, but I do not see there being any improvement on the figures in the previous census. For example, that census showed that there were 17,500 homes lying vacant in Galway city and county, or almost one in five of the total housing stock. Although many of them were vacant holiday homes, there were still almost 14,000 habitable homes lying empty and unused. I stress that these were not derelict buildings, but homes that could, with just a little attention in many cases, be perfectly suitable for families desperately seeking somewhere to live. This shows that, even in the areas of highest housing demand, there is a large number of homes that are just waiting to accommodate families.

Steps have been taken by many a Government to try to address the issue of vacant homes, but the success of those has been insignificant. For instance, the vacant housing reuse strategy has failed to produce the hoped for results, making little impact on the overall numbers. Recently, the Minister for Social Protection, who is also the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys, confirmed a spend of more than €18 million on 99 projects throughout the country under the town and village renewal scheme. While the programme for Government is committed to an expansion of this scheme to bring vacant and derelict buildings back into use and promote residential occupancy, few if any of the projects to be supported will provide residential accommodation. A far more ambitious programme is required to tackle the issue of vacant homes lying idle, which would have the added advantage of bringing new life to many rural communities.

There are many excellent proposals contained in this Private Members' motion, which I wholeheartedly support. One of them can make an immediate impact on the availability of accommodation. Currently, anyone who moves into a nursing home under the fair deal scheme and rents out his or her own home has to pay 80% of any rental income towards the cost of his or her care. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage has promised to exempt rental income from the assessment of means, which by his own estimation could release several thousand homes onto the rental market. That is a large number of properties. However, we are still waiting for it to happen. It cannot come soon enough, as many of these homes are in turnkey condition and are ready for people to walk into overnight.

Research carried out by a UK price comparison website, based on data from the OECD, put Ireland in the unenviable position of being the tenth worst in the world for vacant housing. Tackling this issue and getting a substantial return does not have to cost a great deal of money. It will not solve our country's chronic shortage of accommodation, but it could have a serious impact. The well-thought-out proposals outlined in the motion would go a long way towards easing pressure on the accommodation market. I urge the Government to support and implement them as quickly as possible.

I compliment our administrator, Ms Cáit Nic Amhlaoibh, on the tremendous amount of work she has done with us on getting the motion to the floor of the House.

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