Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I want to ask about the stick. I know there are valid reasons sometimes for properties being vacant or derelict. I will give the Minister two quick instances in my area. Directly across from my office is a multi-unit apartment complex owned by a vulture fund. There are 16 perfectly refurbished apartments that have been sitting empty for approximately four years. That fund is doing it purely for commercial reasons. It is no other reason than pure greed while people need homes. At the top of York Road, just off Dún Laoghaire Harbour, for those who do not know the geography, a place has been sitting vacant for approximately ten years. We found out who owned it and traced it back to a Caribbean tax haven. There needs to be a very big stick for people like that, and 0.3% is not a big stick to force these people to bring those properties back into use for people who really need them.

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