Dereliction makes our towns look worse, damages local pride, drives footfall away from businesses and sends the message that neglect is tolerated. At a time of such acute public infrastructure needs, this is simply unacceptable. This Bill does not create a new tax. It asks only that the existing law be taken seriously and enforced properly. In my constituency of Dublin-Fingal West they deserve better than boarded-up streets and wasted land when solutions are sitting in plain sight. The constituency of Dublin-Fingal West, and particularly Rush, is being visibly and needlessly ruined by dereliction. Anyone who has walked down Rush Main Street in the last 20 years can see how the town centre has had the heart ripped out of it. This is at a time when we are living through an unprecedented housing crisis. Because we are in the north county and because we are one of the fastest growing places in Ireland, if not the fastest and one of the youngest, this is critical. Across our towns and villages sites are laying idle year after year. Empty buildings, boarded up premises, brownfield land where families cannot find homes, young people are forced to leave their town and local services are under severe pressure. The dereliction is not just an eyesore, it actively blocks delivery of housing, large GP services, early education facilities, school-age childcare facilities and the basic infrastructure our communities urgently need. These sites should be contributing to vibrant town centres and sustainable development, not decay and stagnation. We already have a tool to deal with this in the derelict sites levy but the reality is stark. It is not being enforced. Local authorities are applying the levy in some cases but collecting almost none of it. Millions of euro remain outstanding and nobody is being held accountable for that failure. This Bill introduces the basic and essential principle of accountability. If the local authority is failing to collect the levy it must explain why. It must set out how it intends to fix that failure and the Minister must respond, ensuring that local and national governments and not operating in silos while dereliction worsens on the ground. Dereliction and vacancy are a scandal that require robust State intervention moving beyond grants to direct action and reform of local government powers to bring empty buildings back into use.

Sentiment score: -0.18