Derelict homes in Cork
Deputy O'Flynn said derelict properties and homelessness remained severe in Cork and blamed the derelict levy's failure. The Taoiseach defended council efforts, noted housing projects in Cork and said moving from a levy to a tax would help.
Cork alone has 1,788 derelict properties. Nationally, nearly 19,000 homes sit idle while people sleep on sofas or in their cars, working adults are in their parents' box rooms and there will be over 17,000 people in homeless services tonight. The Government has a derelict levy which is obviously not working. The Government has watched some of the local authorities fail to collect a single cent. The Minister for Finance is now blaming local government. It is worth noting that 31 of the local authorities are largely controlled by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors. There are 493 Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors out of 949. Will the Taoiseach now own his own failures - every empty house, every family on a waiting list, every night someone spends in emergency accommodation? Will the Taoiseach explain, not only to this House but to the 61,000 households on waiting lists, why the Government answer to its own failure is always the same - to find someone else to blame?
Comment on this
In this case, the Government is blaming its Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors.
Comment on this
The Deputy was a long time a councillor. He knows the intricacies of this more than anybody does in terms of the application and enforcement of derelict site levies. There has been very significant progress in Cork in terms of housing. There needs to be more and we need to do more but in terms of the housing schemes that have started, been developed and are continuing, particularly along the docklands and, more recently, the schemes at Creamfields, Ballyvolane and many more, there are a lot of big housing projects under way in Cork. Moving from a levy to a tax will make a difference.
The other key issue is that the grants are very substantial for derelict and vacant houses, at €70,000 and €50,000, respectively. That is having a huge impact, with about 17,000 applications. Nothing like that had happened before we introduced it in 2022. It has made a big difference and will continue to make a difference in respective of this.