Council to continue pursuing owners of holiday homes for €200 charge

The county council in an area with one of the largest concentrations of holiday homes in the country is to continue pursuing people who do not pay the €200 charge on second homes.

The Ombudsman’s office has received several complaints from people with such homes in Kerry, who claim they did not know about the non-principal private residence charge.

In the absence of a property register, the council could not confirm the number of homes liable for the charge, but the 2011 census showed around a quarter of all residences in the county were not permanently occupied. Of the 75,000 houses in Kerry, 20,000 were found in the census to be vacant, with many believed to be holiday homes.