Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I never underestimate or take for granted the absolute privilege it is to stand in our Oireachtas and propose changes to legislation. I want to thank my research team who worked on getting the Bill to this stage with me, namely, Darragh Mowlds, Kate Ruddock and Bríd McGrath. I would not have got this far without them.

The Bill seeks to amend the Derelict Sites Act, the Building Control Act and the Planning and Development Act. I introduced the Bill in the context of wanting to create more homes in our towns and villages in order to make the process a little bit easier for refurbishment and change of use in respect of many of the vacant and derelict building stock we are all familiar with in our towns, villages and cities. In the past three years there has been considerable Government action on this area. Over the years there is always talk of addressing dereliction and vacancy. I remember back in the 1990s when the concept of living over the shops on Capel Street was proposed. The difficulties that existed then in converting vacant stock to residential use still exist.

I want to run through some of the highlights from a presentation we received recently from the dedicated dereliction and vacancy unit in the Department. Just yesterday we saw a significant announcement of €150 million for our local authorities to give them seed capital to acquire derelict or vacant buildings, to compulsorily purchase buildings or to purchase them voluntarily without having to impose compulsory purchase orders, CPOs, to develop those buildings for whatever use they see fit, sell them on or create residential units. We have a vacant homes officer in every local authority now, tasked with the duty to work with people who have vacant or derelict buildings, show them the pathway, negotiate it through and talk to them about all the grants that are available. We have set a target in Housing for All for the compulsory purchase of buildings. The target is about 2,500 by 2026. The money that was announced yesterday and the work we are doing to streamline the CPO process will absolutely help local authorities. We can hold up local authorities like Limerick and Waterford as exemplars. They have been doing this for quite some time and can show other local authorities how it is done. We have put that capital in place for them now.

The vacant homes tax was introduced in the budget last year. While I really welcome the vacant homes tax and it was one of the key recommendations from the housing committee's report on urban regeneration, I still think the tax is too low. I am comforted by the fact that the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery, and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, said at the time he would review it. I suppose it is in the early stages, and we can review it. We have amended the fair deal scheme as well to make it a little bit easier for people who have relatives in a nursing home or care setting to put that house back out for rent.

Croí Cónaithe has been a real success. It was announced this day last year; it was certainly announced last July. We offer €70,000 for somebody who wants to refurbish a derelict property or €50,000 if it is just a vacant property. People can add the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, grant to that, which will give them possibly another €25,000. As a result, there is up to €100,000 available to those who want to refurbish vacant or derelict buildings. We have brought in planning exemptions as well, to make it easier. Those who want to register a change of use from certain types of buildings into residential use they do not have to go through the planning process. We brought those exempted regulations in last year. We have also extended the repair and lease scheme to provide extra funding. It has been successful in many areas including Limerick and Waterford, again. No doubt the Minister of State will take credit for Limerick. Eighteen local authorities have developed an app to identify and condition-score vacant buildings. We get it right down to granular detail as to whether these buildings are vacant but habitable, or vacant but uninhabitable and in need of a lot of work.

That is real progress and it needs to be acknowledged. However, there is still a regulatory process that acts as an impediment or barrier despite all the funding and support that exists. We need to address something in the regulatory process. That is why I introduced the Bill. It proposes to amend the definition of what constitutes a derelict site. We propose to change the register of derelict sites to include more information, and the powers for local authorities to compulsorily purchase a site and to inform the Minister. We set out a change to the prescribed areas where the Derelict Sites Act applies. We also seek to change the Building Control Act to relax the regulatory process. When I say this, I do not mean a reduction in standards in any way. It is to try to provide a more streamlined approach. We are also seeking to amend the Planning and Development Act to add a number of exempt developments to Part IV of that Act.

In the Bill, we are expanding the definition of "derelict site". At the moment, a derelict site is defined as something that detracts visually from a street or that is unsightly. People often go out and slap a bit of paint on these buildings. We have often seen the fake windows and doors that are drawn up. That really does not do anything. The building is still derelict and does not bring any real benefit to society. We seek to include buildings where doors and windows are permanently blocked, where the site has not been adequately maintained or is damaged such that it needs repair or where it has been disconnected from power and water for a period of more than two years. That might not mean the site is derelict, but what it says is that this is a building that is about to fall into disrepair through lack of heat and not being used.

We are also seeking to change the register of derelict sites. We wish every local authority to have an online facility so that it is easy to spot all the sites on the derelict sites register. We seek to modernise the notification method, similar to a planning application where one can put up a site notice or use online or much more modern methods of identifying a building. We are also seeking that where a site has been put on the derelict sites register and is there for more than two years, the Minister is notified and can track and review how the CPO streamlining and capital funding have been working.

I have made provision for it in the Bill, because in a Private Member's Bill we cannot suggest a tax, but I think the derelict sites levy would be much more beneficial if it were a tax. The local authority would still identify and would still compile the register but we would put it to Revenue to collect the tax. We have seen that work well with the local property tax.

The powers to acquire the site are also included in the Bill. It also seeks to amend where currently the Minister has to set out the areas where the Derelict Sites Act works. We suggest that it should be any town, village or settlement boundary. We would all be familiar with settlement boundaries within our county development plans and local area plans. It means we are not going after abandoned old mills and farmhouses in really rural areas. That is in Part 2.

Part 3 relates to the Building Control Act. This is to address the regulatory barriers that exist. I want to thank three very experienced architects for their expert assistance with this aspect, namely, Mel Reynolds, Orla Hegarty and Eoin O Cofaigh. They advised me on framing this and have advised other Deputies in the past who were trying to proceed with a Private Member's Bill along these lines.

Essentially, we are trying to introduce a streamlined process here whereas at the moment, aside from the planning exemptions, separate processes have to be gone through to get fire certification, Part M disability access and certification and, in some cases, a conservation report if it is a protected structure. I do not seek to change that at all but I do seek to try to streamline that process.

This works in other jurisdictions. I have called this a town centre first application and I have given it that name because it is a Government policy at the moment to try to focus on our town centres, to try to bring life and living back to support rural and urban town centres and local businesses, to create more footfall in those towns, and to make better use of the services that exist in those towns so that we do not have to keep expanding into greenfield areas. For many years, our planning process was that we just kept expanding outwards and outwards. We know the result of that is long commutes and that transport emissions are probably going to be the biggest challenge we will face in climate, so we are trying here to consolidate our towns and to bring a little bit of focus back onto them.

I introduce three new exempted developments into section 4 of the Planning and Development Act. I call them (m), (n) and (o) because they follow (l) in section 4 of the Act. My proposal here, and I am open to amendments on this and to working with the Minister and the Department on it, is similar to the position in the North, just over the Border, where you can bring all your fire, accessibility and planning drawings into the planning office, go through a much more streamlined process in a much shorter period of time and at a much more reduced rate, and get your permission to develop. I know from speaking to many people, and it will be remembered there was a documentary on "Prime Time" not so long ago where people talked about this, that the barrier is the cost. I can get my drawings done up for design, building and tender processes, get my fire cert, but fail the accessibility cert, and all of that then goes to waste and I am back to square one. This Bill is to try to address that and make it a little bit easier. I know everyone in the House wants to see that and none of us wants to see these empty buildings in our towns and villages. These are the thoughts of people living in these towns and villages, where the lights are on at night and people are out on the streets, about bringing that life back to our towns. I believe everyone would like to do that. I know the one-stop shop can work. I am not stuck on calling it a town centre first application but it is the name I gave to this.

I want to stress again the issue of standards. This morning in the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, we discussed the difficulties with mica and pyrite in a number of counties and in the west. We were also looking at the defects to apartments. I understand people being apprehensive about changing building regulations, but the technical guidance that goes with our building regulations is huge and voluminous and it is very difficult for somebody to wade through that. I suggest we create a more streamlined technical guidance document for these types of buildings that are two, three or four storeys or up to 10 metres in height so that we do not have to stick so strictly to the modern standards that are there and we accept that, in some of these cases, these buildings have been in existence for 100 or 150 years and are serving people very well. To have to strip those buildings out completely and try to apply those very modern standards is onerous and difficult, but as long as we have independent inspection and we do not reduce the standards that exist there, I believe this will work.

Part of this would be to ensure there is independent certification and inspection and that there would be absolutely no self-certification here whatsoever. Taking all those things together: the fact we all know we have to do this - this is climate action as well as housing action - to get that life back into our towns and villages, to acknowledge there is a difficulty in the regulatory process, and to acknowledge we have the will within the Department, because I know at the moment we are doing public consultation, which possibly is finished, on Part B of the fire regulations so that we can build more with timber, and I know there is a working grouping being set up at the moment to look at building with timber, even though there is all this action, all of these supports from Government, all of this funding, and there is the desire to do it, I very much stress that if we do not address this regulatory process, I do not believe we are going to achieve what we want to in respect of dereliction and vacancy. The other thing to say then is, if somebody does not want to go through this streamlined process, it is not the only way, and he or she can still go back to a normal section 34 planning application.

I thank the Minister of State for taking this Bill and I thank those present for being in attendance tonight also. I am aware it is the final session of the Dáil term before the recess so I thank all for their attendance.

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