Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister says there is a group in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage now prioritising dereliction. The Derelict Sites Act was introduced in 1990, 33 years ago. I will give the Minister some of the figures. There are 1,415 sites on the derelict sites register, with an outstanding €15,424,000 that has not been collected over the years. We believe that figure of 1,400 is only a fraction of the number of derelict sites. To give the Minister more figures, according to the vacant sites register there are 1,783 vacant homes with an outstanding amount of €14,698,000 that has not been collected. Those are figures I got through freedom of information from the Department. I will leave the Minister with this. His vacant homes tax of 0.3% is a disgrace. How will that incentivise these landholders and speculators who are sitting on property while we are in the middle of a housing crisis? It is a sham.

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