Written answers

Thursday, 26 October 2017

Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government

Vacant Properties

Photo of Jan O'SullivanJan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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276. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when the empty homes strategy as committed to under Rebuilding Ireland will be published; if consideration is being given to improving current schemes to open up empty homes that are privately owned; his plans to provide for the use of CPOs more widely in cases in which homes are vacant for long periods; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45470/17]

Photo of Eoghan MurphyEoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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My Department is presently engaging in consultations with a number of other Government Departments and agencies in relation to vacancy issues and I am keeping the range of schemes in place to address vacancy, particularly the Repair and Leasing and Buy and Renew schemes, under review in that context. Ahead of the conclusion of this work shortly, a range of vacancy related actions have been initiated, details of which are set out in my reply to Question No. 278 of 19 October 2017.

In relation to compulsory purchase order (CPO) powers, it should be noted that a large number of State bodies and authorities already have CPO powers, many of which are underpinned by different statutes. Considering the number of statutes involved, the complexity of the various pieces of legislation, and the 2015 judgment by Supreme Court in respect of a case in Co. Kildare, any review of CPO powers will be a significant task and will require detailed legal input to appropriately balance the constitutional property rights against the wider public interest.

In addition, the complexity of current statute law governing CPOs has been acknowledged by the Law Reform Commission which has begun a project on reform of the law of compulsory acquisition of land, as part of the Commission’s current Fourth Programme of Law Reform. This project will explore the consolidation, clarification and reform of the rules and principles on compulsory acquisition of land, with the aim of putting in place a fair, effective and efficient system. Among the matters included in the project will be:

- simplification, consolidation and codification of the law;

- the principles for the assessment of compensation on the acquisition of land or interests in land;

- time limits for implementation of a CPO; and

- submissions from third parties whose land is not being acquired.

The Commission intends to publish a consultative Issues Paper, which will describe the current law and seek views from interested parties through targeted questions around how the law might be reformed, in the coming months.  In this context, the outcomes of this LRC project will inform the assessment in my Department as to whether and what further review of CPO provisions is warranted. 

Further to the above work being conducted by the LRC, and taking account of advice from the Attorney General, I also intend to engage directly with local authorities, who have practical, on-the-ground, operational knowledge and expertise on the CPO process within their own areas, and who may be able to identify practical measures or immediate legal reforms that could be taken in the short term to improve the existing processes.

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