Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I believe the motion would give the State even more planning powers over people's private property rights. It is as simple as that. We could look at many other areas. I appreciate the right of the Social Democrats to bring forward this motion. Why do we not look, however, at the more than 4,000, which is a conservative figure, empty local authority houses that have been there for decades? All of us know if we go into any of the estates in our towns and villages that we will see houses that have been boarded up for years, and decades in some cases. We must tackle these. I believe this is a very dangerous road to go down. I want to get houses sorted, but it looks like the State and the Government do not. It looks like paper is being pushed around and back and forward and we get no houses built. We talk the talk, as Deputy Verona Murphy said earlier. It is time for this fiddling while Rome burns to stop. Let us put our shoulder to the wheel and not bring forward motions here to outclass other parties on the left to try to see what they will or will not do. Some of the parties on the left have been in government and they did not produce many houses. It is not a simple issue and I am not saying that; I am saying, though, that this is a slippery slope that we are going down when we talk about taking people's houses.

For various reasons, and we all see them, there could be major complications involved, including in the land registry, in wills, in people being ill in nursing homes or whatever. It is not as simple as just being able to empty buildings. It is not about being able to use the postman, the fear an phoist, to spot empty buildings. There is a great deal behind every story in this regard and we must respect that. We must respect private property. People who own private properties bought them and paid their taxes. They bought them, paid for them and maintained them. For some reason, then, these buildings are empty and that could be because of mental health issues or a plethora of other issues. I would love to see all these buildings being used as well, but we must work within the law and give no more draconian powers to the State to dictate to people who had the energy, enthusiasm and focus to house themselves. They should be left alone. Let us look at the State's empty properties first, and they are many.

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