We are a decade into the worst housing crisis this country has ever seen, and the Government's vacant homes tax is 0.3%, three times the average local property tax rate. The increased wealth that somebody sitting on a derelict or vacant property can make just by sitting on it and paying that derisory tax is multiples of what the Government is asking them to pay. It does not offer any incentive or penalty in real terms for sitting on vacant property, and tens of thousands are doing so. There may be cases in which pe…

It is not; I have another go.

Hold on, a Cheann Comhairle. I get a second go. That is part of the process. I tabled the question.

Hold on, a Cheann Comhairle-----

I am going to have an argument, a Cheann Comhairle. I am one of the few people who turned up for their questions tonight. People have come in to substitute for other people. That is fine; I did not say anything about that. All these people did not turn up and then substitutes came running in at the last minute but then I get short-changed when I do turn up for my own question. That is not fair.

I know, but I put the question down.

I want to ask about the stick. I know there are valid reasons sometimes for properties being vacant or derelict. I will give the Minister two quick instances in my area. Directly across from my office is a multi-unit apartment complex owned by a vulture fund. There are 16 perfectly refurbished apartments that have been sitting empty for approximately four years. That fund is doing it purely for commercial reasons. It is no other reason than pure greed while people need homes. At the top of York Road, just off Dún L…

The Ulster Bank abandoned approximately 1 million loyal customers. We have vulture funds, such as Lone Star Funds, Mars Capital Ireland and Start Mortgages ripping people off with ridiculous interest rates. Is it not time for a public not-for-profit banking system? Instead of selling off the remaining Government share in Permanent TSB and AIB, we should use those institutions, which we still control, to set up a not-for-profit public banking system that cares about the people of this country and its customers.

Is there a single shred of evidence that privately run for-profit banks have worked in our lifetime? We had to bail them out after the madness of the Celtic tiger that they helped to instigate. They are now ripping off people with mortgage interest hikes, profiteering-----

I agree with that.

The banks that are going to pass on the ECB rate hikes, the seventh that mortgage have experienced in the past year, are making absolutely obscene profits. The dirty secret of the hardship and misery that is being imposed on mortgage holders who are facing €500 and €600 a month - thousands of euro every year - in increased mortgage interest payments that many cannot afford and that will drive many into arrears is that the banks in this country that are imposing these increases are making stupendous profits. AIB, wh…

Do it exactly the way the Government did it with moneylenders-----

I thank the Regional Group for tabling this important motion. I note that it is the second time they have tabled this motion, which indicates the failure of the Government to respond fully and adequately to the critical issue of equality for people with disabilities when it comes to transport. The equality to live independently, to participate fully in all aspects of life and to be provided with the transport necessary, are rights for people with disabilities. These rights are not currently being vindicated. The pr…

This is a republic. Whatever political differences there are, most of us identify with the aspect of it being a republic whereby we do not believe in kings and monarchs or inherited power and privilege, especially when it is associated with empire, colonialism and shocking inequalities between a tiny group among the royal aristocracy that has the inherited power and ordinary people. Against that background, while of course we all very much welcome the peace that arose from, or at least accompanied, the Good Friday …

I was canvassing in Derry and Strabane for the People Before Profit candidates over the past couple of weeks and I wish to mention a couple of issues which were of concern in that north-west area. First, on the Ulster University Magee campus, there have been promises after promises about expanding the investment and the capacity to build up that university, particularly when many people are leaving that area. Those promises have come to very little despite being made repeatedly. The case for investment in Magee was…

The Government is committed to a referendum on the most urgent issue of all in this country, namely the housing crisis. When will we know what that referendum is about? Somebody who would like to know and to whom I want to give a shout-out is Martin Leahy, an accomplished musician who has come to the gates of the Dáil every Thursday for one year to sing a song called “Everyone Should Have a Home”. He has performed at a number of cost-of-living and housing demonstrations organised by Raise the Roof and the Cost of L…

On the face of it, introducing a licensing system for those working in construction and quarrying, areas which can be dangerous and where lives can be lost, seems reasonable, as does streamlining the process and introducing a licensing authority. Given the shocking figures the HSA has produced on fatal and non-fatal accidents over the years, there seems to be merit in bringing in measures and doing everything we can to improve safety in quarrying and construction. The figure of 1,616 fatal work-related accidents be…

I have worked on a few building sites, having said that, but I did not do footings.

I did not do footings; I did dry lining and labouring.

I remember bricklayers pointing out that the work that was being done was substandard and that it would lead to cracks in the building and the occurrence of damp within a very short period. Of course, lo and behold, that is exactly what happened. The qualified bricklayer who had experience and knew what work should be done to do those things properly was outside the gate protesting because he could not get on the site, along with many other people, due to their being known union activists and the main contractor di…