Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I only became aware of that matter in the last couple of days whenever the story appeared online. I do not know if it is fully accurate. I would not necessarily assume that it is and I do not want to comment on it further. I do not know Michael Stone but I met him once or twice in the context of his chairmanship of the north-east city project. I must say that the vast majority of people I met, especially in the north-east inner city, felt that he was very dedicated to the work he did and that he did very good job.

We have a system of taxation on derelict sites. There is a Derelict Sites Act and derelict sites levy. I do not know if the city council imposed that tax or if it declared it to be a derelict site at all. These are things to which I just do not know the answers. One thing I would say, however, is that we need to do much better in Ireland and in this city when it comes to meantime use. There are many plots of land around the city that are being brought together and waiting to be built on and developed, and that will happen. We should be more open to meantime use and using these as cultural spaces, community spaces or for whatever purpose, at least until development happens.

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