Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

There are 166,000 vacant houses in the State, excluding holiday houses, according to the 2022 census. Approximately 50,000 of these have been idle for six years. Approximately 25,000 have been vacant for 11 years. This is at the same time as the country is in the middle of a housing emergency, the worst housing crisis in the history of the State. It is against this background that the Government has decided to introduce a vacant homes tax, at a rate of just over 0.3%. This is a very low figure. It is a pathetically low figure. In fact, it is so low that a speculator who decides to leave a house idle can continue to make massive profits despite the tax. A speculator sitting on a €300,000 house who theoretically paid the vacant homes tax last year, although it was not in place yet, would still be €20,000 better off than at the start of the year. Moreover, the scheme operates on the basis of self-reporting. There seem to be no penalties for failure to report. There are exemptions for landlords who say they are selling a house or planning significant refurbishment work. A house that is occupied for just one day in ten in the course of a year is also exempted. The Government's approach to encroaching on the right of private property is craven. In Scotland, there are compulsory sales orders for long-term vacant properties. In Barcelona and Amsterdam, properties vacant for more than six months are subject to compulsory rental orders. In France, the vacant homes tax is set at 12.5% for the first year with the potential to rise to 25% in the second year. In other words, the minimum in France is set at more than 40 times the rate set by the Irish Government. It is time to get tough on vacant properties but this Government clearly does not have the will to do so.

See this speech in context