Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for the reply. It will be particularly relevant to towns in Kerry, particularly Listowel, Dingle, Kenmare and Cahirciveen Since Covid, many people have been returning to rural towns to live. However, town centres in Kerry, maybe with the exception of Killarney, are under severe pressure. There is a lot of dereliction in them. Is the Minister satisfied with the progress made to date on the collecting of levies? He mentioned the derelict sites measure. There is a register that county councils are obliged to maintain. It seems Kerry County Council has not been active enough in commencing compulsory purchase orders. I see from the latest statistics available that zero sites were acquired by agreement in 2023, and zero sites were acquired compulsorily. There were levies of €231,000 but zero received for sites, and €979 in total was received. Therefore, there is an outstanding levy figure of €703,000. The authorities must act to use the schemes already in place if what is wanted is to renew the town centres.

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