A variety of opinions have been expressed on how to decrease the number of vacant buildings. Positive incentives would certainly be a good thing but punitive measures would further victimise property owners who have emerged from the last century battered and bruised.

Agricultural leases have been effectively frozen at ludicrously low levels for most of the 20th century and remain so to date. Heirs of the original farmers keep up their peppercorn rent payments, often using the land for leisure not agriculture. The owners have practically no rights and agriculture graduates cannot acquire good farming land.

Residential rentals were reformed in 2009 but, in spite of improvements, many houses are still rented for less than €200 per year and tenants have a guarantee that this convenient arrangement will not be disturbed for their lifetime and their children’s. Owners are still compelled by law to offer social security benefits to their tenants, who may be better off than the owners.

Commercial rentals were also reformed in 2009. Tenants were given 20 years of security and rents should have reached realistic commercial levels by the start of 2014 with the publication by the government of a Property Market Value Index. The index has not yet been published, leaving many commercial rents stuck at pathetically low rates, depriving owners of a realistic return on their property and, consequently, paying much less income tax than they should.

This also perpetuates a very unhealthy skew in the commercial world, where some businesses are given a huge advantage over their competition. They pay practically nothing in rent while new businesses in the same line of trade pay full commercial rates.