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

Of course, we support any initiatives that will help to tackle the scourge of vacancy and dereliction but it is simply not good enough for the Taoiseach, as leader of the party that has held the housing brief for five years, to pass the buck to local authorities. That is not good enough. He speaks of a "razor-like focus" on tackling vacancy and dereliction. That is exactly what we are not seeing from his Government and his Minister for housing. We are seeing an absolute vacancy as regards policy. We hear from our councillors across the country that the resources available to local authorities to tackle voids are diminishing. Central government is undermining the capacity of local authorities to tackle vacancy and dereliction. We in Labour have supported local communities in bringing forward reports of vacant and derelict buildings and houses to local authorities so that we can help to be part of the solution to the problem. However, what we hear from our communities is immense frustration at delays in the process, the slowness of responses and, crucially, a lack of funding for local authorities from central government. It is not good enough for the Taoiseach to say that local authorities are not doing enough. The impetus and the driving focus must come from central government and from the Department of housing. That is precisely what we are not seeing at present. That is really evidenced by the collapse of derelict buildings as we saw so graphically yesterday.

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