Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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557. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the funding provided for the compulsory purchase orders (CPO) of properties and the number of properties subject to a CPO in each of the last five years, by local authority, in tabular form. [38849/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Local authorities are empowered under a number of statutes to acquire land, by agreement or compulsorily, for the purposes of performing any of their functions. My Department does not hold data in respect of Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPO) applications made generally, apart from compulsory acquisitions related to the Derelict Sites Act, 1990.

Specifically, the number of derelict sites acquired within their functional area by local authorities under the provisions of the Derelict Sites Act 1990 (the Act) is submitted to my Department by local authorities as part of their annual return on the operation of the Act. The number of sites acquired under the Act by local authorities, both by way of compulsory acquisition or by agreement, in the last five years up to the most recent year 2023 available, is provided in the Table attached. The returns are collected in Quarter 2 of the following year and accordingly my Department is currently engaging with local authorities on the returns for 2024.

In January 2023, a third round of funding support under the Urban Regeneration Development Fund was announced. Supporting key objectives of Housing for All and Town Centre First, this Call 3 of URDF support specifically addresses long term vacancy and dereliction across URDF eligible cities and town.

A shift in focus from previous rounds of funding, this is being achieved through the provision of a €150m revolving fund for local authorities to acquire long term vacant or derelict properties in eligible URDF towns and cities. Acquired properties are then offered by local authorities for private sale at market value to those who in return will commit to bringing the property back into residential use. Proceeds from the sale of these properties are used to replenish the fund, allowing a local authority to establish a rolling programme to tackle long-term vacancy and dereliction without a requirement for borrowing and the associated financial risk.

In terms of URDF funding provided under Call 3, €142.5 million has been allocated to local authorities to date. As a signal of Government commitment to this initiative local authorities received 20% of their financial allocations by way of forward funding of €26 million, so that they were well resourced to begin addressing this issue. As of Q1 2025 the current total of residential and commercial properties approved by my Department for inclusion on Local Authority’s Approved Call 3 Programmes is 1,377. Of these, 63 properties were acquired by local authorities, with 57 of these acquired through CPO. A further 46 properties have commenced the process to purchase by CPO.

The Social Housing Investment Programme (SHIP), which is the main capital programme that supports local authorities in the development of new social housing, also provides them with full funding to acquire and renew existing vacant / derelict properties in need of more substantial capital investment, with a view to the delivery of new social homes. This acquisition can be either by agreement or by CPO and it creates opportunities for local authorities to respond to more significant dereliction in town centres. The Department does not track the number of units acquired by CPO under the SHIP Programme.