Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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1012. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to report on the derelict sites levies levied, collected, owed and cumulatively owed; the number of sites CPOed in the previous 12 months; the number of sites for which a levy was applied; the total value of sites on the register; and the number of sites on their register on 31 December 2024 and to date in 2025, by local authority, in tabular form. [58131/25]

John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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The Derelict Sites Act 1990 imposes a general duty on every owner and occupier of land to take all reasonable steps to ensure that land does not become, or continue to be, a derelict site as defined in the Act. 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.

Each local authority maintains a Derelict Sites Register under section 8 of the Act for sites which they consider are derelict under the Act. Sites entered on the Derelict Sites Register are subject to an annual derelict sites levy of 7% of market value which will continue to apply until the site is rendered non-derelict.

However, the placing of sites on the Register and the collecting of levies on those sites is part of the overall process that Local Authorities undertake with the owners of derelict sites they identify. Local Authorities will engage directly with site owners in the early stages of the use of the Derelict Sites Act before the site is formally listed on the Register. This direct engagement can often lead to resolution of the dereliction issues by agreement between the Local Authority and the landowner involved, which can lead to significant variation in the number of sites being formally placed on the Register across local authorities.

Local Authorities are required to submit an annual return to my Department providing information on the operation of the Derelict Sites Act 1990 in their functional areas. The derelict sites returns are collected in Quarter 2 of the following year. My Department is currently engaged in the process of finalising the 2024 returns and this data will be published in the coming weeks. Data for 2023 is set out in the table at the link below.

A Derelict Property Tax was announced in Budget 2026 and it is intended to introduce legislation providing for the tax in 2026. When it comes into effect, the tax will replace the Derelict Sites Levy and will be collected by the Revenue Commissioners. Levies that remain outstanding when the new tax is introduced will remain as charges on the property and will be the responsibility of each local authority to collect.