Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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My Department oversees a number of legislative provisions aimed at addressing dereliction and vacancy in our cities and towns, including the Derelict Sites Levy and the Vacant Sites Levy.

In this connection, the Derelict Sites Act 1990 imposes a general duty on every owner and occupier of land to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the land does not become, or continue to be, a derelict site. 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. To this end, local authorities have been given substantial powers under the Act in relation to any such sites, including powers to require that owners or occupiers take appropriate measures on derelict sites, to acquire derelict sites by agreement, or compulsorily, and to apply a derelict sites levy on the registered owners of derelict sites.

It is open to any person to contact a local authority in relation to a particular site which may be considered a derelict site for the purposes of the Act. Under the Act, local authorities are required to maintain a register of any land which, in the opinion of the local authority, is a derelict site. Under section 8(5) of the Act, a copy of the register for any local authority area can be inspected at the offices of the relevant authority. It is a matter for local authorities to determine the most appropriate use of the legislation within their respective functional areas.

Under the recently introduced provisions of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2018 both the Derelict Sites Levy and the Vacant Sites Levy will increase from 3% to 7% of the market valuation of relevant sites with effect from January 2020, in respect of sites included on the respective local authority derelict and vacant site registers in 2019. This change in the rate of the levies is intended to ensure that the levies have more meaningful impact and that the powers of local authorities in tackling dereliction and vacancy are strengthened for the purpose of bringing relevant sites into productive use, thereby facilitating urban regeneration and development while also combatting land hoarding.