John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, which he consistently does. The Derelict Sites Act 1990 imposes a general duty on every owner and occupier of land to take all reasonable steps to ensure that land does not become, or continue to be, a derelict site as defined in the Act. The Act also imposes a duty on local authorities to take all reasonable steps, including the exercise of appropriate statutory powers, to ensure that any land within their functional area does not become, or continue to be, a derelict site.

Each local authority maintains a derelict sites register under section 8 of the Act for sites which they consider are derelict under the Act. Sites entered on the derelict sites register are subject to an annual derelict sites levy of 7% of market value, which will continue to apply until the site is rendered non-derelict. However, the placing of sites on the register and the collecting of levies on those sites are part of the overall process that local authorities undertake with the owners of derelict sites they identify. Local authorities will engage directly with site owners to try to bring these sites back into productive use and out of dereliction before they are formally listed on the register. This direct engagement can often lead to those units being brought back into productive use, which is what we all want.

Local authorities are required to submit an annual return to my Department providing information on the operation of the Derelict Sites Act in their functional areas. The derelict sites returns are collected in quarter 2 of the following year so we are my Department is still collating the 2024 returns and will publish them shortly. I propose to circulate with the Official Report a tabular statement setting out the information requested regarding the 2023 returns.

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