Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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236. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which prominent derelict sites have been identified in towns and villages; if specific provision is being made to address this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38822/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The Derelict Sites Act 1990 provides that local authorities are required 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. To this end, local authorities have been given substantial powers under the Act in relation to any such sites, including powers to require specified measures to be taken in relation to a derelict site, to impose a levy on derelict sites, or to compulsorily acquire any derelict site.

The administration of the Derelict Sites legislation at a local level is a matter for the relevant local authority. While my Department updates, on an annual basis, a Schedule of Urban Areas in line with sections 4 and 21 of the Act, it is a matter for the relevant local authority to determine the most appropriate use of the legislation within their respective functional areas. According to the most recent information held by my Department, which relates to 2013, there were 1,711 derelict sites on registers across the State. Of these, 359 sites had been levied during 2013. Information relating to 2014 is currently being collated by my Department.

In terms of incentivising the development of empty and underutilised sites in central urban areas, the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015 was enacted in September 2015. Under the provisions of this Act, a levy will be charged on the registered owners of vacant sites in urban areas with a housing or a regeneration need. The derelict site levy shall not be payable in respect of any land on which the vacant site levy will be payable. I anticipate that this levy will facilitate the achievement of the primary objective of bringing sites of this nature forward for residential or regeneration development.