Derelict Sites
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-09
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Ged Nash (LAB), Louth

The Minister will know how this works. He will know about the ineffective nature of the Derelict Sites Act and the need for reform in that space. When a local authority identifies an owner of a derelict site or property and, after due process, decides to place that site on a register, the individual may decide to contest that. It then becomes complicated. He or she may potentially challenge the designation of a derelict site through the courts and communities become frustrated.
Dereliction itself is an absolute scourge, regardless of the housing disaster we are experiencing at the moment. It is a public health matter. In fact, the Scottish Administration has designated dereliction as a public health issue, and for very good reasons. The reality is that the Revenue Commissioners are the best-placed agency to collect a levy that will be transformed into a tax for a number of different reasons. Any business owner I know needs to sweat every asset they have. If it is a case that somebody is wealthy enough to be able to preside over a derelict site without using that site to generate some revenue, they must have very deep pockets. Of course, if Revenue is collecting your tax and you are not compliant, then you cannot run your businesses. I get what the Minister is saying in terms of that disincentive piece, which is important, like the vacant homes tax. It is not about collecting tax; it is about incentivising use. I ask and urge the Minister to look again at ensuring the revenues generated and collected are returned to local authorities like the local property tax, by and large.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:26+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-09