Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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236. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of sites that have been entered in every city and council vacant sites register from 1 January 2017 to 1 January 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2184/18]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015 introduced a new measure, the vacant site levy, which is aimed at incentivising the development of vacant, under-utilised sites in urban areas.  Under the Act, planning authorities are required to establish a register of vacant sites in their areas, beginning on 1 January 2017, and to issue notices to owners of vacant sites by 1 June 2018 in respect of vacant sites on the register on 1 January 2018. The levy will be applied by planning authorities, commencing on 1 January 2019 in respect of sites which were vacant and on the vacant site register during the year 2018 and will subsequently be applied on an annual basis thereafter, as long as a site remains on the vacant site register in the preceding year.

Planning authorities are presently engaging in the necessary preparatory work, prior to the application of the levy with effect from January 2019 in respect of sites identified on the register in 2018.  As required under the Act, this includes the identification of specific vacant sites for entry on the register as well as the registered owners of the sites in question along with undertaking a site valuation. 

My Department does not maintain a central register of vacant sites as each local authority administers the vacant site register in respect of their functional area.  On foot of a recent review of the online vacant site registers across all local authority areas, I understand that there is collectively over 180 sites on the registers.

My Department continues to monitor and engage with local authorities in relation to the implementation of the vacant site levy and as recently as 8 November 2017 held a seminar with authorities in this regard.