However, it needs much more implementation by the local authorities who are responsible for the levies. The majority of our county councils failed to collect the derelict sites levy for two years in a row. 

Cork County Council collected absolutely nothing in 2023, according to an article by Seán Murray in last Wednesday’s Irish Examiner. Limerick City and County Council, on the other hand, collected almost the entire amount it levied in 2023. It received €245,166 out of €259,940 owed in respect of 131 sites.

With funding to local authorities being so limited, they should at least be collecting these levies

They could use them to invest in renovating the derelict properties that are in local authority ownership, or employ more staff to co-ordinate the Vacant Property Grant so that the applications for these and the payment on completion could be processed much more effectively. 

If all of the local authorities were collecting €250,000 per year from these levies, they’d be in a much better position to effectively implement programmes, such the Vacant Property Grant, so that dereliction in our towns and villages would become a thing of the past.

The question is why local authorities don’t collect these levies. In my experience, local businesses who have a record of investing in their local area have access to and can expect a positive response from their local authority. 

This makes sense, but should not deter the local authorities from insisting on the same businesses paying whatever levies are due on any properties they have that remain vacant. 

The next step will be to put in place a process by which the derelict properties must be renovated within a limited period or incur ever increasing fines.

Some of those vacant properties are quite spectacular examples of major buildings being redundant because of social changes. The latest that comes to mind is Mount Melleray in Co Waterford, and there have been other examples in Tipperary, Galway, and Clare. 

Just type in “convent for sale” and you’ll find examples in Ballyporeen, Loughrea, and Spanish Point for sale or already sold.

We all know the huge need for accommodation in Ireland. We have 16,000 or so homeless people living in hotels and hostels, so many young adults unable to buy a house or apartment, and immigration continually rising because of our economic prosperity and international reputation as a benevolent country.

Despite these needs, it is striking that most of the owners of these buildings have not used them to provide accommodation for those in need

Some have been closed and left empty. Others have been put up for sale on the open market. The famous phrase “no room at the inn” comes to mind. 

It seems that, despite that phrase being used to turn away the woman who was about to give birth to the son of God, some of those who represent that God today haven’t spotted this major opportunity to fulfil the requirements set out by her son.

By modelling how to make “room at the inn”, they would be fulfilling their calling and demonstrating what a supportive society and, dare I say it, a Christian country looks like. 

The religious orders should be grasping this opportunity for relevance with both hands. Tipperary and Dublin bishops have spoken out in support of migrants, but this would be putting their words into practice — both for our own people who need somewhere to live and for those who come here looking for safety, succour, and solace.

One example where this is already being done is the Convent of St Paul, in Kilfinane, Co Limerick. The convent is currently being refurbished as apartments in conjunction with a sheltered housing body, Sophia Housing. 

This will ensure the continued relevance of the order in the village where it has had a presence for over a century — the two remaining nuns will live there — as well as giving back to the area in a time when housing is the key issue facing most communities.

Meanwhile, the Land Development Agency (LDA) has launched its report on the potential of State-owned land to deliver affordable and social housing into the future.

 Their report on relevant public land identifies 83 State-owned land sites, and assesses them as having the development potential for up to 67,000 homes in the medium- to long-term.  It’ll have to be faster than that.

Now, at least, we may soon be able to add A-rated prefabricated houses and "tiny" houses bought online to the list of potential solutions, since the Government has mooted the possibility of building in our back gardens to provide housing more quickly.

The A-rated houses for sale online can be expensive,  but there are many affordable well insulated prefabricated houses online too

Some of them are made in Ireland and they can be purchased for under €100,000, including installation.

Under current legislation, extensions — modular or conventional — of up to 40sq m floor area can be built without planning permission as long as the extensions are attached to the house itself. Under the proposed new legislation, planning exemptions may be introduced for free-standing modular homes. 

Again, there will be delays as submissions are being requested from all Government departments and a public consultation is planned. I think that a quick poll would show that most people want this proposal implemented without further delays.

The reality is that there is lots of land available, lots of buildings to renovate or re-dedicate, and lots of affordable modular house solutions. 

This latest government proposal, if agreed, will bring even more land into play. Let’s get with the programme and get faster solutions built faster, and let’s get the levies collected and invested in ending dereliction. 

In the meantime, the Government's plans to build those 67,000 houses in the medium- to long-term will need attention. 

The outstanding problem is where to get enough builders and construction companies to build them

Many migrants who have come here are highly skilled. Has the Government or any of the NGOs asked the asylum seeking population what their skills are? 

On one site I was on last year, a young Lebanese woman who lived in the house asked to help with the renovation and was able to turn her hand to anything she was asked to do — so we can be surprised by where we can find the required skills. 

The skills shortage is slowly — too slowly — being resolved, with the Government is getting apprenticeships back on track. We are ruing the day they were ever cut back, but now we need to pull all of these resources together and get the job done.

The solutions are there. We just need to get on with it.

• Alan O’Neill is a developer of buildings and people. He founded the Men's Development Network and ran an architectural practice in Co Waterford for 16 years.