Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. In reply to questioning by the Labour Party of him and the Minister previously, we heard that ending the scourge of vacancy and dereliction is a priority for the Government. We are delighted if that is the case but the reality is that it appears a very much hands-off approach to this is being taken by central government. With respect, the Tánaiste has previously said in this House that responsibility for tackling vacancy and dereliction rests with local authorities, yet what we are hearing, and what Dublin City Council in particular is saying, is that the Government has reduced the subvention for the renovation of voids. Figures from our local Labour Party councillor in the south-west inner city, Councillor Darragh Moriarty, project that fewer voids will be turned around over the coming years as a direct result of Government cutting central funding. We are hearing that there will be some 220 fewer voids addressed. Dublin City Council's consultative group has apparently been notified by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage that it will be reducing central government's subvention for refurbishment from 25% to 20%. This is at a time when we are seeing construction costs increasing. In The Irish Timestoday, Olivia Kelly quotes a senior engineer with Dublin City Council saying that Government funding for repairing and refurbishing empty properties is constantly coming down. Where is the priority?

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