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

I commend the huge effort being made to support Ukrainian refugees. They have been displaced by war and forced to leave their homes. A huge amount of work is going on at State level to support them. The response from communities throughout Ireland has been very generous. We have seen communities come together and put the shoulder to the wheel. We have seen community leaders and community activists showing real leadership on this, turning huge goodwill into practical help. It is important to recognise this. There are also those working for local authorities and Departments who are doing a huge amount of additional work. It is very important to recognise this.

I want to touch on a few issues raised by the Minister on some of the measures to increase housing supply overall. I welcome that the commercial rates refunds for vacant properties will be ended. This should have been done a long time ago. It never made sense to reward vacancy through a tax exemption while those who put buildings to use pay the tax. For this to be effective the loophole needs to be closed for the many commercial vacant premises, particularly newer developments. By "newer developments" I mean those in communities that were built ten or 15 years ago, such as in Clongriffin in my constituency. More than 50% of the commercial units at ground floor level are vacant and have been since being built. This is matched in newer developments throughout Ireland. I understand many of them escape rates being applied because the owners claim the units were never finished and are still shells. This is even though the planning permission to fully finish them has long expired.

For this measure to be effective, that loophole needs to be shut down and it needs to be shut down quickly. It is important in terms of bringing buildings back into use and if they are not commercially viable, converting them into housing and if they are commercially viable, getting life back into communities. It is also important in terms of sustainability. Could the Minister look at that?

In terms of activating unused planning permissions, the Minister has been very vocal for a number of years about the need for very strong "use it or lose it" measures. I think we are still waiting to see those strong measures so they need to be brought in urgently. We often hear this narrative about the planning process. It is a significant issue. I accept the frustrations some have with the planning but there are a lot of planning permissions. There is a significant issue with them not being used and built out. In the last quarter of last year, about 6,200 homes were under construction in Dublin but there were 28,500 homes with planning permission. There is an issue with people sitting on those planning permissions and not wanting to bring them to market at the same time because that would obviously have knock-on effects on affordability. It would be good for people in terms of affordability but might not be in the interests of all the developers. Different landowners and developers over the year have told me that this is what they do. They release them at a slow pace to control the prices, which, of course, is what they will do if they are able to.

A practical issue that is a small one but one that affects supply in terms of vacancy is the delays around things like trying to get fire certificates. I know of one landlord with a vacant office for which there is planning permission. Everything is in line to try to convert it into housing above a shop in a town but the landlord has been waiting for months while trying to get the fire certificate. Every time, the landlord gets an update, he is told it will take another few months. These are premises that could be used for housing. It is on a small scale and the landlord is very frustrated about it. When we are putting more and more work on to people who are already stretched in terms of housing delivery or processes and are not putting in additional resources, there is a problem. This landlord was told recently that one of the administrative staff dealing with fire certificates has been taken off that to deal with the current housing crisis. By not having those extra resources, we are actually creating additional issues in terms of vacancy.

I very much agree with the comments of Deputy Duncan Smith in terms of needing full State presence in those professional supports. A significant effort has been made by volunteers but we cannot continue to rely on that will and volunteers. I appreciate that this is an emergency and people have put in significant effort but to date, there has largely been reliance on hotels and other forms of emergency accommodation. This accommodation is suitable for short-term accommodation but we need to move into more sustainable options for people. As Deputy Devlin said, in the case of people who might have an under-utilised property such as a holiday home they do not rent out that is in walk-in condition and could be used, apart from the voluntary pledges that are being worked through, there is no framework or information about insurance or helping to meet those costs of wear and tear. A very strong call should be made to people who have holiday homes that do not see much use who might only use them once or twice a year to make them available for this housing need on a once-off basis but a framework needs to be put in place. It is only reasonable then for these people to be given some compensation to cover their costs and if, for example, they have to make alternative holiday arrangements. This could and should be done. I am concerned that there is an over-reliance on continuing to use hotel accommodation- not by the Minister's Department but by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, which is leading on this - when there are other options that should be used. The Irish Refugee Council has been strong on the need to do that. I appreciate that it takes time but we should not repeat bad mistakes made in other areas, including in terms of homelessness where people have been caught in substandard emergency accommodation for extended periods with the indefensible pressure that puts them under.

In addition to holiday homes, at least 92,000 vacant homes are available. According to GeoDirect, there are more than 22,000 derelict homes and almost 30,000 vacant commercial buildings. Ground floor vacancy rates in Irish towns are well above the European average with vacancy rates as high 28% in Tipperary town according to the Heritage Council and 24% in the centre of Dundalk and Tralee. To put those figures in context, about 120,000 people are on housing waiting lists or in insecure HAP tenancies. It is not true to say that we could match those vacancies exactly with those 120,000 people. Where there is housing need does not match perfectly with where there is housing demand, or anything like perfectly, but it is true to say that while much of this vacant stock is in isolated rural areas, according to the 2016 CSO figures, 64% of it is in urban areas and is largely located in areas where there is housing need.

The Minister is correct that we need both to deal with the existing housing crisis and to meet the needs of people forced to flee their homes as a result of war and he has my full support in this regard. We need to tackle vacancy to free up existing homes and we need a tax on vacant homes, which has been talked about for years but has still not happened. There are reports in the Irish Examinerabout campaigners Jude Sherry and Frank O'Connor, who have done excellent work identifying 700 derelict properties - this does not include vacant properties - within 2 km of Cork city centre. In the middle of a housing crisis, there is no justification for that. This requires an emergency response from the Minister and the Department as to how on earth in the middle of a housing crisis, 700 derelict properties can be identified by two volunteer campaigners in Cork. It should not be left to Dr. O'Connor and Ms Sherry to do that; Cork City Council should be doing this. We need a significant effort relating to vacancy and dereliction and we need it now.

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