100% tax hike plan for vacant homes

Thousands of property owners who keep homes empty for more than two years could face 100% tax hikes in a bid to force them to release houses onto the rental market.

A Government TD has proposed the controversial tax, alongside separate plans for local councils to turn empty commercial units into Apollo House-style residential properties, in order to tackle the growing housing crisis.

Despite the linked house price, rental, and homelessness problems continuing to escalate across the country, latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show that up to 240,000 residential properties are currently empty in Ireland.