We will not be opposing these measures. I want to make some general points, particularly on the issue of tackling vacancy and dereliction. The grants the Minister announced this week are quite frustrating in many ways because there is no guarantee the public funding that is given out will actually go to ensuring the delivery of affordable homes. It is very frustrating because we are now seeing up to €140,000 per commercial property renovated being given to a potential investor, landlord or property owner, yet local authorities get just €11,000 per home they are trying to renovate, which in many cases are voids. There is a real problem in that we are not investing in our public housing stock and bringing affordable property back into use, while giving property investors up to €140,000 to do up a vacant property and bring it into residential use with no guarantee whatsoever that there will be affordability requirements. The other figure to note is that 28% of all vacant property grants are going to landlords to rent out properties, again with no affordability requirements, yet the Department of housing is declaring, defining and counting the giving of those vacant property grants as affordable housing. It is not affordable housing; it is going to landlords. If we really want to tackle vacancy and dereliction, local authorities need to be compulsorily purchasing properties on a significant scale. In my constituency, the Drake Inn in the heart of Finglas village has been sitting vacant for many years. Trees are growing out of the building and the city council, while it is levying fines on the owner, has not collected all the fines. How is it possible that a huge property in the heart of Finglas village is left vacant for many years to fall into ruin and damage the fabric of the community while the council just sits back and allows it? Councils should be compulsorily purchasing buildings like that but they do not have the funding and they do not have all the mechanisms to do so. When we talk about a commitment to tackling vacancy and dereliction, these issues must be addressed as well.

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