Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to return to the issue of the scourge of vacancy and dereliction that blights our cities, towns and villages. It grates all the more in the teeth of a deepening housing crisis created under this Government. The local property tax returns for last year found that more than 50,000 properties were recorded as vacant. Figures released to me by the Minister for Finance yesterday show that nearly 5,000 properties have been declared as vacant in the vacant home tax returns for this year, nearly 2,000 of which are claiming an exemption, which leaves just under 3,000 properties liable for the vacant home tax. That is 3,000 out of the more than 50,000 properties recorded as vacant last year. These are extremely low figures and, furthermore, the vacant home tax itself is too low and it is designed such that the tax will remain low, regardless of whether a property is vacant for five or even ten years. Last year, only 21 vacant property refurbishment grants had been drawn down over a year and a half. What is the Taoiseach's response to today's returns? Does he agree that more has to be done to tackle the scourge of vacancy and dereliction across the State and if so, what does he plan to do?

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