John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Last week, "Prime Time" ran an excellent programme on the work being done in Waterford to tackle the issue of dereliction and vacancy. It highlighted the success of the repair-and-lease scheme, the buy-and-renew scheme and the council's utilisation of compulsory purchase orders, CPOs, to tackle something that everyone in this Chamber and across society gets rightly vexed about in the midst of a housing crisis. The Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage is examining this issue at length, but it warrants debate in the House. Why is it that a council like Waterford City and County Council accounts for 50% of all repair-and-lease units that have been delivered in the State? It is having a positive impact in terms of delivering one- and two-bedroom units, predominantly in the city centre, which has reduced the need for bed and breakfast and hotel accommodation. In fact, it has eradicated it. That is a positive development in my county, but if it can be done in the fifth largest urban centre in the country, there is no reason it cannot be done elsewhere.

I call for a debate on this matter. It should not be the case that Waterford accounts for 50% of all repair-and-lease units. While it is fantastic that we have so many, the scheme needs to be adopted more by other local authorities. At last count, eight local authorities had not delivered a single unit and up to 20 had delivered five or fewer. That is a dismal performance. The Housing for All plan wants to focus on tackling dereliction and vacancy. The tools are there to make a difference. They just need to be utilised to a greater extent by local authorities.