John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Gould for the question.

Addressing vacancy and dereliction is a key priority of the Government. The vacant homes action plan published in January 2023 set out a range of actions to be taken to return vacant and derelict properties back to use as homes. The 2025 progress report shows significant progress has been made and it is available on the Department's website.

The CPO activation programme encourages a proactive and systematic approach by local authorities to address vacancy and dereliction. Local authorities are identifying vacant and derelict properties and engaging with the owners to bring these back into use, using the wide variety of schemes now in place. This includes using their compulsory purchase powers where engagement with the owners of the properties has been unsuccessful. It is true to say that local authorities vary in their willingness to use compulsory purchase powers and the Department is working to support them to strengthen their activation response to vacancy and dereliction. This is certainly something about which I am engaging with local authorities when I go around the country. I want local authorities to use their powers under the Housing Act and the Derelict Sites Act.

The programme requires co-ordination across teams in local authorities to support a focused response and this is occurring with reorganisation and new structures being established in local authorities. From my experience in dealing with local authorities, I note that where it is done under a single directorate in the local authority it functions a lot better than where it is a cross-directorate approach. The data on the CPO activation programme the Deputy referenced in his question is currently being verified and finalised and will be published in the coming weeks.

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