Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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Right across cities, towns and villages, there are empty, vacant, and derelict houses and buildings lying idle. They are being left to rot. These are properties and homes where people should be able to live, work and raise families, but instead they are left derelict and vacant. GeoDirectory has found record levels of commercial vacancy. It has also found that only 2,377 homes have been charged with the vacant homes tax. There are probably two or three times more than that in Cork city alone. This is a shockingly low figure. Why is more not being done to tackle vacancy and dereliction? These empty buildings are ripping the heart out of communities in our cities, towns and villages. They are destroying local economies and forcing people to live in overcrowded, substandard accommodation and in many cases emergency accommodation.

More than 5,000 children are in emergency accommodation and at the same time, we have vacant, derelict buildings in every town, city and village. It is madness. What is being done about it? I will give a couple of ideas to show what I am talking about. I have a printed image of a street in Cork. It has been like that for years. It is not just Cork. I have an image of Crumlin village. What could be a lovely house with an extension on it has been boarded up. It is not just that. I have an image of Dublin city centre. A block of houses has been left boarded up to rot while there is a huge waiting list in Dublin for the many people in homeless accommodation. People cannot rent or buy. It is not just here. A massive building in County Kerry is vacant and derelict. I have an image of another in Buncrana, County Donegal. I also have an image of a vacant building in Sligo. In every town and every village, we have boarded-up properties.

What is the Government doing about it?

We do not know whether these buildings are on the derelict sites levy. Even though the data was collected in quarter 2, and I have looked for it at least ten if not 12 times, I cannot get an answer from the Minister. Will the Minister of State commit to responding to me and to releasing the data in relation to derelict sites levies? Are the levies being charged? How many sites are on the levies? What local authorities are either putting sites on or charging the levies? There is information that needs to be delivered. Will the Minister of State commit to releasing that data? To be honest, it looks like to me that a cover-up is going on around dereliction.

We know from previous years that local authorities are underfunded, understaffed and under-resourced. If we want local authorities to deal with this, the Government must support them. I propose that the derelict sites levy be taken off local authorities and given to Revenue because the one thing we know is if Revenue is given the job, it will do that job. What we have at the moment are land hoarders. They do not have to pay the local property tax because the property is derelict. They will not pay the derelict sites levy because local authorities do not have the staff to enforce it. What is happening? Will the Minister of State release the derelict sites data? Will he look at moving the collection of it to the Revenue Commissioners?

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue and giving me this opportunity to update Members on the issue of vacancy and dereliction. I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy James Browne.

Tackling vacancy and dereliction is a key priority for the Government. The reuse of vacant and derelict properties can provide much-needed housing, while also being a catalyst to revitalising communities. A number of national structures have now been established, including a dedicated vacant homes unit in my Department, a full-time vacant homes officer in each local authority and the implementation of a vacant homes action plan to ensure co-ordinated, cross-Government action. In March 2025, the Minister, Deputy Browne, published the 2025 progress report, which shows the significant progress being made in tackling vacancy and is available on my Department's website.

A key focus in the action plan relates to the interaction with the Government's town centre first policy approach, which was launched by my Department and the then Department of Rural and Community Development in 2022. Town centre first provides a whole-of-government policy framework to address the decline in the health of towns and support measures to revitalise them. To drive the delivery of town centre first, dedicated town regeneration officers are now established within local authorities and are working in concert with vacant homes officers and other local authority staff to tackle dereliction and develop regeneration initiatives.

In addition, where local authorities find that the acquisition of particular derelict properties is the appropriate mechanism to return them to use, they are enabled by the provisions of the Derelict Sites Act to acquire them compulsorily. This approach is now supported through the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, which has established a €150 million revolving fund specifically for local authorities to acquire vacant or derelict properties, residential and-or commercial, if necessary, using their compulsory purchase powers, and to carry out any associated works needed to make them more attractive for use or sale. On completion of the most recent review of this element of the URDF programme, over 1,370 residential and commercial properties were approved by the Department for inclusion in the approved programmes for all 31 local authorities.

My Department has also introduced planning and development regulations that provide an exemption from the need to obtain planning permission for the change of use of certain vacant commercial buildings to residential use, including above-the-shop living. The most recent local authority returns from 2024 show that local authorities have received notifications of 1,457 exempted development proposals to date, with plans put forward that result in the provision of 3,429 new homes nationwide.

These exemptions can be combined with other funding supports, such as the vacant property refurbishment grant and the repair and leasing scheme, in order to bring buildings into residential use. At the end of quarter 2 of 2025, over 13,730 applications had been received for the vacant property refurbishment grant and almost 10,000 had been approved. Over 2,800 grants have been paid to date as refurbishment works have been completed. Further information on the range of supports is available on the Department’s website.

This month, the CSO released new vacancy data for 2022 and 2023. It notes a national vacancy rate of 3.3% at the end of 2023, dropping from 3.6% in 2022. While varying levels of vacancy are indicated in different data sources, the overall trend is downwards and vacancy levels are declining nationally.

The new programme for Government, Securing Ireland’s Future, also includes actions that aim to further continue work on town centre living and regeneration challenges. These measures will be considered in the context of the forthcoming new national housing plan that is currently being prepared by my Department, including consideration of potential funding and financial supports to assist in encouraging the use of vacant or derelict buildings in towns and cities for new homes.

I will bring back the point the Deputy raised to the Minister.

Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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I accept that town centre first is a good model. The problem is that only 26 town centres were done in the first three years, between 2021 and 2024, and another 26 have been passed for 2024 and the next three years, as I learned from the answer I got to a parliamentary question. The town centre first policy is a good policy, but it will take 90 years to implement because there are over 800 towns in the State and we are only doing 26 every three years. That is crazy. The Government has a project that is good in principle but it is not funding it and not rolling it out at the level needed to target vacancy and dereliction in town centres.

The Minister of State spoke about one vacant homes officer in every local authority. That is a joke. We put pressure on the previous Government to get that one vacant homes officer. What we are looking for is a vacant homes team in each local authority to tackle vacancy and dereliction. I will be honest. We got a response here that sounds great and suggests that there is loads going on. I invite the Minister of State to walk the streets of Dublin with me, and I will also bring him to my home city of Cork, where I will walk him around and show him the dereliction and vacancy. He can list out all the projects but the facts are that houses and buildings are being left to rot in the middle of communities, when we have people who cannot rent or buy and others who are in emergency accommodation.

I will say one thing to anyone who is watching or listening. This Saturday at 2.30 p.m. on Grand Parade in Cork city, we are holding a Raise the Roof rally with unions, other left-wing political parties and student unions. I ask anyone who is listening, if they are sick and tired and fed up seeing good buildings left to rot while people have no homes, to come out on Saturday to support Raise the Roof.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Once again, I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. Addressing vacancy and dereliction is a key priority for the Government. As I stated, I am taking this debate on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy James Browne.

As I mentioned, with to regard to dereliction and vacancy in Ireland, particularly in small towns and villages, the Government is taking a proactive, co-ordinated and whole-of-government approach, which recognises the importance of supporting and empowering local businesses and residents to make real and lasting change in their communities. The Deputy referenced local authorities. Many local authorities have specific vacant homes and properties teams operating. Substantial progress is being made on delivering on the town centre first approach and the vacant homes action plan through the provision of dedicated staff and resources for the dereliction and vacancy issues I referenced. These are being complemented by the financial supports for planning reforms aimed at converting underutilised buildings to new homes in our towns and urban areas.

The range of measures being taken by the Government to address vacancy and dereliction are having a real success and vacancy levels are declining. Significant investment through schemes, such as the urban regeneration and development fund, the vacant property refurbishment grant and the repair and leasing scheme, are helping both local authorities and ordinary people to bring vacant and derelict properties back into use and revitalise towns across the country.

With regard to derelict sites, my Department initiated a review of the Derelict Sites Act and invited local authorities to make initial submissions on potential improvements to the legislative provisions and the way they are applied.

I again thank the Deputy for raising this issue and providing me with an opportunity to inform and update the House.