11% of business premises are lying vacant

Almost 24,000 commercial units are vacant out of a total of about 226,500 business premises across the country.

A study on empty business units conducted by GeoDirectory found there were 23,384 unoccupied commercial spaces across the Republic — a figure which equates to a national vacancy rate of 11%.

It is the first time that the company, which was established by An Post and Ordnance Survey Ireland, has examined vacancy rates in commercial properties.

The report also shows that the north-west is suffering the highest vacancy rates.

The largest number of vacant units is in Dublin, where 5,851 commercial premises were found to be unoccupied out of a total of 48,760 commercial units — a vacancy rate of 12%.

Sligo and Leitrim recorded the highest commercial vacancy rate of all counties, with 14% of business units empty.

Out of a total of 1,929 commercial premises in Leitrim, 268 were vacant. Sligo had 517 unoccupied units out of a total commercial building stock of 3,648 units.

Six other counties recorded vacancy rates above the national average of about 11% — Carl-ow, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Mayo, and Roscommon.

At the other end of the scale, Kerry recorded the lowest vacancy rate with just 7% or 602 units of its commercial units.

The highest vacancy rates of individual towns or regions were found in Claremorris, Co Mayo; Little Island, Co Cork; and Dublin 17, which each recorded rates of 17%.

In contrast, Kinsale, Co Cork, is enjoying strong commercial activity with just 31 commercial units unoccupied — a figure which translates to a vacancy rate of just 5%.

Dara Keogh, the chief executive of GeoDirectory, said the report showed a positive trend with almost nine out of ten commercial premises around the country being occupied.

He claimed the trend was supported by the fact that 14 counties had unoccupied levels below the national vacancy rate of 11%.