Submission to Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Community, Planning and Local Government: Addressing the issue of vacant housing, derelict sites and underused spaces

Thank you for the invitation to speak to the Committee. I am Lorcan Sirr, lecturer in housing policy at the School of Real Estate and Construction Management at Dublin Institute of Technology, and visiting professor of housing in the Faculty of Law, at URV in Tarragona, Spain. My colleagues are Ms Orla Hegarty, lecturer in UCD, with an expertise in the construction industry and the regulatory environment; and Mr Mel Reynolds, an architect in private practice with an expertise in building standards.