Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, to the House.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for attending. He will not need me to remind him that the scale and nature of the housing crisis affecting not just this city, but the entire country, is the greatest social challenge of our time. The Government recognises this and many initiatives have been undertaken to address the issue.

One of the proposals that have been made by the Peter McVerry Trust seems eminently sensible. It aims to utilise the amount of space that is available or vacant, particularly in Dublin city, to house our people. The Minister of State knows as much as anyone the long-term damage that any stint in homelessness of or insecurity of housing can cause, especially to young children, for whom the damage can last the rest of their lives. Ireland has a particular understanding of that.

The Minister of State will accept that the Peter McVerry Trust is a credible and compassionate organisation whose heart is in the right place. It has worked with a number of Ministers in recent years on trying to find practical solutions to our housing problem. It has identified approximately 10,000 units that it believes would be beneficial in addressing the housing crisis. It describes them as over-the-shop units. Added to the estimated 33,000 empty residential units across this city and further afield, this would go a long way towards addressing the issues.

There are other housing projects, for example, the interesting Abhaile Project, which recently won an award for redeveloping the upper storeys of large, four-bedroom or three-bedroom occupancies that had just one person living in them in a bid to alleviate some of our issues.

The over-the-shop phenomenon has been identified by the Peter McVerry Trust as a practical means through which the city council, with support from the Minister of State's Department, can address some of the housing shortages. The trust, supported by the city council, has suggested that approximately 10,000 people could be provided with accommodation in these empty or under-used spaces in the upper floors of buildings.

The Peter McVerry Trust is trying to think imaginatively.It is clear from an audit of the empty spaces that are available in the city at present that the over-the-shop phenomenon would provide spaces and places where housing could be easily provided for families who are in need. How seriously does the Government view the submission made by the Peter McVerry Trust this month to the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government for a national re-use strategy? I am sure the Minister has the submission and has studied it in great depth. It makes huge sense. While the conversation is always about building new units and estates, which is understandable, that process is quite lengthy. Obviously, it is necessary to go through the planning process and that can be quite exhaustive and difficult.

The case we are making here is to look at existing buildings, units and spaces that are under-utilised. We believe there are 10,000 of them in Dublin city alone and we ask the Department to take the submission from the Peter McVerry Trust seriously, engage with Dublin City Council and begin the process of utilising these units to house our people.

Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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I assure the Senator that everything from the Peter McVerry Trust is taken seriously with regard to addressing homelessness and housing. The Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, is very much in agreement that tackling the issue of vacant housing, derelict sites and under-utilised spaces, as advocated by the trust, is a key part of the comprehensive approach required to address our current housing challenges. It is good to see that organisations such as the trust are promoting the take-up of important schemes such as the repair and leasing and buy and renew schemes introduced by the Department to maximise their impact. In this regard, I highlight the importance the Government attaches to taking joined-up action with local authorities, property owners and organisations such as the Peter McVerry Trust on empty or under-utilised buildings to secure additional homes as early as possible.

Whereas building new homes is a significant element of Rebuilding Ireland, the Government's Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, it is dear that an effective and quick way to meet housing needs is to make the most efficient use of the housing stock we already have, across all forms of tenure, as an important source of potential housing supply. Pillar 5 of the Rebuilding Ireland action plan is specifically focused on utilising the existing housing stock and one of its key actions is to develop a national vacant housing re-use strategy to ensure that the existing vacant housing stock throughout the country, in both the public and private sectors, is used to the optimum degree possible. With the 2016 census showing more than 180,000 vacant homes across the country, excluding holiday homes, representing approximately 9% of the overall national housing stock, we must assess where and how many of these empty homes can be quickly brought back into use. Almost 80,000 vacant dwellings were recorded in our cities and large towns. This level of vacancy is unacceptable when we are faced with such a severe housing shortage.

In compiling a register of vacant units, especially in and around our cities and larger towns where demand is greatest and where the pressure on house prices and rents is most acute, local authorities are best placed to identify these vacancy hot spots, tracking what has changed on the ground since the April 2016 census count, and to set out a range of actions, in collaboration with property owners, to bring as many of these vacant houses and buildings back into use. A working group led by the Housing Agency has done considerable research work to date. Using the more detailed localised data from the census, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, is now considering developing a package of actions to increase the ambition and mobilise all the key arms of the State to work together on this crucial initiative.

This analysis will feed into the targeted review of Rebuilding Ireland which the Minister is now leading, to focus on what further actions can be taken and what new ideas we can bring to bear. If budgetary measures are needed to reinforce the ambition, this may delay the publication of the strategy until after the summer. However, this will not delay the commencement of important work at local level in gathering more up-to-date information on where vacant properties are and who owns them, so we can facilitate the re-use of many vacant properties, particularly in our cities and towns.

Indeed, ahead of finalisation of the strategy, it is worth noting that the Department has already activated a number of significant measures to incentivise the increased use of vacant housing stock to help meet the needs of those in receipt of social housing assistance. These initiatives include the repair and leasing scheme, the buy and renew scheme and the Housing Agency acquisitions fund, all of which are available to provide opportunities for owners of vacant properties to get them back into use to meet social housing need in their areas.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour)
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The Minister's response is reasonably positive. I get the sense that the issue of vacancy hot spots, as they were described, is being taken seriously and that the Minister is happy to engage with local authorities on it. I am a little disappointed with the suggestion that the publication of the strategy could be delayed until after the summer, but I understand these things happen occasionally. Given the nature of the crisis, many would suggest that delays of that nature would be disappointing. Perhaps the Minister could give me another verbal reassurance that he is aware of the submission from the Peter McVerry Trust and that he understands there are an estimated 10,000 over-the-shop units in Dublin city alone. This is part of the jigsaw of measures that can be used to solve the crisis. I hope all submissions to the Department are accepted in the spirit in which they are submitted.

Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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I do not know if that Department is aware of it, but I will find out. I assume that it is. The Senator said that people need to act imaginatively, which is a good term. I know the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, well and I believe the Senator knows him well too. The Minister is one of the people whom I believe will act imaginatively to ensure that whatever must be done will be done. I wish to reiterate the point I made earlier. The report could be delayed if additional finance is required. That might be required following the budget. That is the only reason I am aware of for the report to be delayed.