Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-16
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I would dispute what the Deputy has said and her analysis and presentation of it. Dealing with vacancy and dereliction is multi-stranded and must involve a multi-stranded approach. As far back as 2022, the Government introduced what I would consider to have been a game-changing initiative in terms of the vacant property refurbishment grant, which provides up to €50,000 for vacant properties and up to €70,000 for derelict properties. Since its launch in 2022, a total of 17,486 applications have been received; over 13,000 have been approved; €285 million had been paid out by quarter 1 of this year; and over 5,300 vacant or derelict homes have been returned to use. That is proactive and going at this in a very significant and pragmatic way, and it has yielded results.
Then we have the new vacant above-the-shop grant which was introduced last April. That provides up to €140,000 to convert vacant upper floor commercial space into housing alongside a €5,000 expert advice grant. We have regeneration and local authority action. Government has allocated €150 million through the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund to tackle vacancy and dereliction. About €142.5 million has already been allocated and more than 1,300 properties approved for intervention. Dublin City Council has received €10 million with approximately €9 million still available for deployment. That allows local authorities to acquire vacant or derelict properties, carry out works and return them to productive use our or sale.
The town centre first policy is a significant initiative to support community-led regeneration and reuse of vacant buildings in towns across Ireland. Cappoquin in Waterford is a good illustration. It has gone from 33 derelict properties to 11 in five years through a plan from the Cappoquin Development Association supported with investment from the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht through the town and village renewal scheme and Rural Regeneration and Development Fund.
We provide support to local authorities to address vacant housing. The local authority vacancy rate was 2.75% at the end of 2024. It had been a 3.18% prior to that. That is the national residential vacancy rate. We have made a lot of progress in terms of social housing.
In terms of the derelict property tax, the Government took a decision last year to change it and to move the function from local authorities and to move it from a levy to a tax to be implemented by Revenue. I would appreciate the Deputy’s support for. She is indicating she will support it wholeheartedly. It needs legislation and it will be legislated for in this year's finance Act but a lot of work has to happen and is happening to make sure it is accurate, comprehensive and up to date.
There is a tendency always for the Deputy and others to be all things to all people. She has said the local authorities did not have the capacity; they did have the capacity. The reason we are moving this to Revenue is that local authorities have not succeeded at all in implementing the derelict sites Act as it was fashioned. Some local authorities did. Limerick and others had the capacity to do it; others just did not bother. I do not want to be criticising people for the sake of it but the bottom line is this. On another day in this House people will decry the lack of devolved authority in government in Ireland but here is an area where local authorities really did not go after it-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-16