Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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4. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the derelict sites levies levied, collected, owed and cumulatively owed; the number of sites subject to a CPO in the previous 12 months; the number of sites for which a levy was applied; and the number of sites on their register on 31 December 2024, by local authority, in tabular form. [36135/25]

Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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I wish to ask the Minister about the derelict sites levies that have been levied, collected and owed; the number of sites subject to a CPO in the previous 12 months; the number of sites for which a levy was applied; and the number of sites on the register on 31 December 2024, by local authority.

John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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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.

Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State and I sat on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage for four years. There are local authorities that will not put sites on the derelict sites register; some local authorities will not impose the levy, which is the law; and other local authorities will not collect the levy. Millions of euro are owed on derelict sites on the register but there are more sites that have not been put on it. This Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Government has allowed local authorities to not enforce the law. If a man parks his car illegally outside this House and gets a ticket, he has to pay it but the Government believes that a building falling down in the centre of Dublin, Cork, Waterford or Limerick should attract no attention. If one walks out of here and walks down the quays of Dublin, one will see the dereliction so how can one say things are being done? It is a scandal. There is a place on North Main Street in Cork that is falling down around us. Cork City Council has tried to CPO it but the landlord is blocking it. It is a scandal.

John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy does not have to shout in order to make his points. We can all make valid points without shouting across the Chamber at one another. It is true to say that dereliction is a really important issue. It is not one that local authorities or Government are ignoring. The Deputy knows full well because we both sat on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage all of the measures that are in place to assist those. They include the vacant property refurbishment grant, buy and renew, repair and lease and CPO. The Government provided local authorities with €150 million to allow them to CPO properties. We do need to see more local authorities activating such sites and they do have obligations in this respect. Where levies are levied, when the unit is ultimately disposed of, those moneys are collected by the local authority. There is an onus on local authorities to place properties on the register. The Deputy should not dismiss that. The approach involves using the carrot and the stick. What we all want in this Chamber is to see those units brought back into productive use.

Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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The facts are the facts. There are derelict sites in every town, village and city in this State. Between them, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been in government for between ten and 14 years. These are the facts. I am not making this up. If the Minister of State wants to walk down the street with me, I will walk down with the three Ministers and a couple of Members of the Opposition and we will show him the dereliction.

The Minister of State should not come in here and say he is doing this and he is doing that. There is unbelievable dereliction, which is destroying communities, and he says the onus is on local authorities. I recall the pressure that myself and Deputy Ó Broin in opposition put on the previous Government. There was no section within housing to tackle dereliction until we came at it non-stop over recent years and now there is. There is one person in each local authority - one person. Would the Government not give the local authorities the funding to hire the staff to do the work? The Minister of State spoke about a fund of €150 million. Why are there so many derelict buildings? Will he answer that?

John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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As I said, the Government has put in place a number of schemes to empower local authorities on the exact thing the Deputy just mentioned. There is a revolving fund through URDF call 3 for the compulsory purchase of properties. It is true that some local authorities are doing better than others. We want to mainstream best practice across all local authorities. There are also other schemes such as repair and lease, buy and renew and the vacant property refurbishment grant, which are all there to be able to activate those properties. Where they are not being activated, yes, the stick of the CPO and of the derelict sites register has to be applied by local authorities. I do not disagree with the Deputy on that. Of course, they are there to be used. What we all want is for those units to be brought back into productive use. If engagement with the owner of those properties and availing of some of the other schemes does that, that is great; if it does not and we use the CPO or the Derelict Sites Act then so be it.

Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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It is not happening.