Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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745. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department is working towards allowing county councils to apply the derelict site levy throughout the year and not just on 1 January; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23793/25]

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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746. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government why county councils can only apply the derelict site levy on 1 January; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23794/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 745 and 746 together.

The Derelict Sites Act 1990 (the Act) 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. Local authority powers include requiring owners or occupiers to take appropriate measures on derelict sites, acquiring derelict sites by agreement, or compulsorily.

Section 8 of the Act provides the procedure for entry of a site, which is considered to be derelict under the Act by the local authority, onto it’s Derelict Sites Register. This may be done at any time throughout the calendar year. Section 23(1) of the Act establishes that “there shall be charged, levied and paid for each local financial year beginning with such year as may be prescribed, in respect of all urban land in relation to which a market value has been determined and stands entered on the register on the first day of January of that local financial year, a levy to be called the derelict sites levy.”

I am satisfied that the arrangements in terms of dates for liability for the levy, combined with the requirements under the Act for the Local Authority to prescribe the measures to be undertaken to render the site non-derelict and a period to undertaken such prescribed works, are appropriate. In this regard, it is important to note that the end objective for Local Authorities is to resolve dereliction rather than placing properties on the register or applying a levy.

Furthermore, 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. A focused working group of nominated staff members from a number of local authorities was subsequently established and met on a number of occasions. Discussions on the review are ongoing and it is intended, in the context of related policies, legislative amendments and funding schemes that have been developed since the review commenced in 2021, in addition to the increasing challenge associated with dereliction, to now further consider the potential to improve the legislation and related supporting mechanisms.

It is also worth noting that placing sites on the derelict sites register, and collecting levies in respect of those sites, is not the sole mechanism that local authorities apply in relation to bringing sites back into use. They often engage collaboratively with property owners with a view to necessary works being undertaken to bring sites back into use while also occasionally using their powers under the Act to compulsorily acquire derelict sites.

In relation to derelict homes in particular, my Department is funding full-time Vacant Homes Officers in Local Authorities to support the bringing back of previously occupied homes into residential use. The Vacant Home Refurbishment Grant (VHRG) also provides grants of up to €70,000 to eligible properties that are derelict in order to undertake required refurbishment works and make them suitable for residential use.