Cork TD Thomas Gould today launched the party's Vacant Homes Strategy for Cork, which it says could bring thousands of properties back into use.
The party says while vacant sites in the city are worth around €27 million, the City Council had collected just under €21,875 in vacant site levies by November 2020.
Speaking to RedFM News, Cork Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould says the €500 million the government paid landlords in rent subsidies last year could be put to better use:
"For years we've been criticised for saying throw money at problems to fix them. We've all cleaned off strategy, but no the ESRI have come over and stated that it makes financial sense for this government, and for the state to invest billions in housing because the crisis is so bad, it's affecting every path of society, what the ESRI are telling us is, it is the right thing to do financially to spend billions, especially at a time when you can borrow money for virtually interest free."
