*Senator Roisin Garvey. Photograph: John Mangan
Existing stock needs to be examined if the housing crisis is to be tackled, a Clare Oireachtas member has stated.
Senator Roisin Garvey (GP) raised the issue of empty houses in the Seanad on Monday and argued that this needs to be focused on if efforts are to be made to tackle the country’s housing crisis. “With over 200,000 empty houses in Ireland, we surely need to look at existing stock and upgrade it so it can play its very important part in increasing home supply”.
Lack of regulation for Airbnb is fuelling the problem, the Inagh native believed. “Air B&B of a room in your own house is not a problem, but when you Air B&B an entire house, it removes its potential to be a home at a time when we have a housing emergency”.
Access to clear data and with the right mixture of carrot and stick incentives a large number of homes could be provided in a relatively short space of time, the former county councillor stated. “There are over 5,000 vacant dwellings in Clare alone. 80 of those are vacant Council Houses. We need to be prioritising turning these into homes” she concluded.
