Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I join my colleague, Senator Sherlock, in thanking Senator Moynihan for her considerable input into what we consider, as all Senators have said, the important Private Members' motion we are discussing. A lot of emphasis has been put on Dublin for obvious reasons. For someone from a more rural area who travels through a lot of rural areas to get to Dublin, I do not have to travel very far through towns, villages and even coming into Dublin to see dereliction and vacancy. That is what this motion is all about. That is why we are asking the Government to tackle it. I will go into more detail. It has been said that almost 13,000 people are availing of homeless services. Concerning the figure for vacant premises, whether it be 50,000, 60,000 or 160,000, as Senator Fitzpatrick rightly said, it is a lot easier to turn them back into family homes than to start building on greenfield or brownfield sites. The motion asks the Government to ensure that whatever figure it is, be it 50,000, 60,000 or 160,000, every effort is made to ensure those properties become family homes.

Emphasis has also been put on community facilities. To be fair, the European funds, etc., were mentioned but many of the people with whom I deal have never heard of them or of what is available for conversion. The Senator can look at it whatever way she wants but we go through many towns and villages in my county and others. They are crying out for youth and community facilities, exhibition spaces, etc. Derelict buildings in the middle of these towns and villages would be ideal for that if people would work and ensure we could return them to such. One of the biggest problems with derelict buildings is ownership. The vacancy tax is proposed to identify ownership but the name over the door could be there for 40, 50, 60 or 70 years and it is very hard to identify the owner. It is a problem I have seen and dealt with over many years in trying to pinpoint ownership. I know the tax was brought in for that purpose but I hope it will address the issue once and for all.

The CPO process was mentioned and a change or streamlining of the process has been requested. There are issues in that regard, which everyone must accept. When a sign goes up on a derelict house, it is misleading for some, unfortunately, and there are issues when an owner comes out of the woodwork at the last minute. That has happened to some of the local authority officials to whom I have spoken. It needs to be addressed in streamlining the CPO process. A big issue I want to address is what happens in local authorities. Much mention has been made of them. An emphasis is needed on local authorities ramping up what they do. I compliment Waterford City and County Council. Several people who visited recently complimented Waterford but in other places I am familiar with, including Dublin city, there is dereliction. There is the forgotten town and village, which the Minister of State will have heard of, where people look at the dereliction and nobody does anything about it. They are asking for, as we do in our motion, a ramping-up whereby each local authority would use the various methods mentioned by Government parties and additional methods to ensure these vacant properties become family homes and community facilities.That is what needs to happen. Senator Cummins mentioned that some local authorities are not addressing the various issues he raised, while others, including mine, are very good at doing so. However, that does not excuse the Government from being responsible for local authorities overall. We should be emphasising that we need to bring all ships up. We need to ensure all local authorities are given the necessary funding and the vacancy officers, which they already have, but they must also be given town regeneration officers. Some have town regeneration officers but others do not. This is what needs to happen.

When I talk to local authorities, I note there is an issue with clerks of works. When a local property is identified, somebody is sent out to look at it and prepare tender documents. Some local authorities have access to this facility and some do not. In the overall package we are asking the Government to provide, it should be ensured that each local authority has a clerk of works to prepare documents on vacancy and that the costs are met.

An issue arises over what happens when a tender document is prepared, because we are still using the same framework used for housing maintenance. That brings in another issue, namely, that of apprenticeships, which we have mentioned before.

In my time left, I want to raise an issue that is part of the document and that I have raised with the Minister of State continually over the past two years, namely, that of the housing adaptation grants. The Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, dealt with a Commencement matter on this two years ago and I was told a report would be prepared on housing adaptation and housing grants for older people. We still have not seen that. There is a huge problem in each local authority area. The grants would address some of the dereliction we have seen. The grant is very good and does what it says on the label but unfortunately local authorities are struggling. More important, tenants applying for and using the grants are struggling because building and heating costs have gone through the roof. Many local authorities have recently reduced the amount of money available and the grant itself. They are waiting for the report, which has been on a desk somewhere for two years. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, to comment on that. Other Senators and Deputies have asked about this recently. The grant can make a difference.

The bottom line, which was mentioned at the start of this debate and agreed by everybody, is that we want to see the lights turned back on in every town and village, not just Waterford but also Dublin, our capital city, and all the towns in between that can be seen when travelling on the M9 and M7, to ensure they are not forgotten and are fit for purpose, with family homes and also community spaces.