Martin Conway (Fine Gael)

I also warmly welcome our colleague Senator Andrews back. I commend him on what was a truly heroic effort on his part to shine a light on the issue. In due course, I am sure we will hear some of the haunting stories. I join my two colleagues in wishing him well in the upcoming days. I wish him and his family well with his transition back to Irish life.

I would like a debate on the property owned by the State, specifically agencies like the OPW and local authorities. In my county there are a lot of vacant properties owned by various elements of the State, including CIÉ, Iarnród Éireann, Bus Éireann and the OPW. I can think of three buildings in a town in Clare that are boarded up and could be used for something more productive than they are being used for at the moment, which is nothing. The Department of housing needs to do a deep dive in collaboration with other Departments and agencies to do an inventory of the number of buildings in State ownership that are derelict or vacant and to see what can be done to bring them into use specifically for housing. Not enough is being done in that space to identify properties. I can give specific examples in my county and I am sure my colleagues here can give examples of buildings they are aware of that have lain vacant for decades.

Coupled with that, we need another layer when it comes to the State agencies, specifically local authorities, purchasing properties. While I fully understand and accept that the CEO of a local authority has to have autonomy from elected members when purchasing property, there needs to be another layer of accountability. I am looking for a debate on accountability for local authority CEOs when purchasing property. On another day, I will allude to why I am raising that particular issue.