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

The Minister has just confirmed how much of a failure the vacant homes tax is in the context of tens and tens of thousands of vacant properties. Of course, I am for being fair to people where there is a good reason but there should be an imperative to say that by hook or by crook, this house will be brought back into use. It is obscene for that not to be the case. Yes, if somebody has a reason for leaving it empty, we should buy it off them for a fair price. If somebody is sitting on it for speculative reasons, we should tax them to the hilt and take it off them for speculating on property. The same should be done with residential zoned land, planning permissions or any of these things where speculative profiteering is taking place on the back of vacant and derelict property.

I say to the Minister that we must have a can-do attitude. We are not going to allow the scandal of vacant or derelict property, or people speculating on zoned land when we are in the teeth of an absolutely obscene housing crisis. If we have a can-do attitude, we can be fair to people but can also get the result, which is to bring back into use those vacant and derelict properties and sites which can be used for housing.

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