Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this Bill. Senator Norris made the point that we are debating legislation on housing and urban regeneration so obviously we are aiming to achieve quite a lot.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill because it is about gathering information that can help us to better plan for the future. However, it seems strange to have a Bill on the housing shortage that does not mention NAMA and the possibility for NAMA to play a greater role in the provision of housing. Speaking in general terms, we should realise that Dublin needs to convert some retail property or vacant property into housing. I believe the Government should remove any red tape and ease planning regulations so that vacant or under-used building can be used to address the housing shortage. The Government should also consider reintroducing the living over the shop scheme to increase the residential use of city centre streets. I travel to France quite a lot and living over the shop is common in countries like France where apartments are located over and around shops in town and city centres. Something could be done in that area.I would be interested to hear if there are any constitutional difficulties with the legislation. Article 43 of the Constitution effectively provides that if the State passes a law that restricts one's property rights, it may be required to compensate one for it. I wonder if some property owners will see themselves as unfairly singled out by this legislation. The Government states the Constitution as a reason it cannot pass various Bills, particularly in the upward only rent area. That is why it showed no enthusiasm for accepting the legislation that we discussed here. I would be interested to hear if this provision in the Bill is sound.

Section 12(2) states:

The market value of the vacant site shall be estimated by the planning authority and it shall authorise a person it considers suitably qualified for that purpose to inspect the site and report to it the value thereof and the person having possession or custody of the site shall permit the person so authorised to inspect at such reasonable times as the planning authority considers necessary.

In some sense this appears to be drumming up business for auctioneers and estate agents. We have all heard of how Revenue is using Google maps as a free tool to estimate the value of properties, something that I feel is quite intrusive, yet the planning authorities will outsource the valuations of vacant properties. A rough estimate would suffice in this respect and the planning authorities would not have to waste money in this way. I would be interested to hear the Minister of State's thoughts on that area and also whether we could compel NAMA to set aside 1% of vacant property for affordable artist studios. We had a discussion recently at the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation about the ability to create jobs in artistic areas. I think something could be done in this regard. Temple Bar worked well, the development in IFSC worked well and singling out an area like that could help.