Proposals for over-the-shop homes to come before Cabinet

Current processes are too cumbersome to make a dent on the dereliction issue, according to minister of State Peter Burke, who was meeting restaurateurs and diners at Elbow Lane on Oliver Plunkett St in Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

Proposals to tackle dereliction and to bring over-the-shop accommodation into use will be presented to Cabinet later this year in a bid to breathe new life into city centres.

Local government and planning minister Peter Burke said current processes were too cumbersome and unstructured to make a dent in dereliction in cities such as Cork, which has seen a range of buildings fall into disrepair in recent years.

Campaigners such as urban design and sustainability consultants Dr Frank O'Connor and Jude Sherry have been at the forefront of highlighting dereliction in Cork, insisting renewal should be key in restoring the city centre, as opposed to mass commercial redevelopment.

Dereliction 'making core areas unlivable'

Dereliction is “sucking the economic potential out of all our cities, towns and villages” and is “making core urban areas unliveable", the campaigners have argued.

Mr Burke, who was in Cork to meet with restaurateurs and patrons of outdoor dining among other visits, said: "We expect to have proposals to go before Cabinet some time towards the third quarter of this year, and that will be a suite of measures to try and bring over-the-shop accommodation back into use, and to try and find a more structured process."

The lack of a coherent strategy was hampering efforts to tackle dereliction, he conceded.

A lot of people tell us at the moment is that there are a lot of different grants available, but there is not much structure to wrap around, or to offer those who are thinking of bringing a vacant property or an over-the-shop property back into use. 

"There are a lot of silos in operation," he said.

He pointed to towns such as Skibbereen in West Cork as models to follow when it came to town centre renewal: 

If you look at areas like Westport and Skibbereen, they weren’t a success story overnight. They happened because a formula was put in place either by a town team or a team led and coordinated and built out policies to deliver that. 

Mr Burke also chastised local authorities around the country for not taking building vacancy as seriously as they should.

He estimated just three of 31 local authorities have appointed a vacancy officer, despite funds being ringfenced for the job.

"The Department provides €50,000 for every local authority for a vacant homes officer, and it is up to the local authority to use that properly, because only three of 31 have a full-time officer. We need to take that more seriously."

This month, Cork City Council formally triggered the legal process to acquire derelict buildings in one of the city's most historic streets.

Derelict sites register

It wishes to acquire the adjoining buildings at 62, 63, 64 and 65 North Main St under Section 14 of the Derelict Sites Act 1990. The buildings have all been listed on the derelict sites register since 2015.

The four buildings at North Main St were owned by David O’Connor and Bryan O’Connor when they were placed on the derelict sites register in December 2015 but they are now listed as being in the hands of a receiver.

The council has also moved to acquire two buildings, at 118 and 119 Barrack St. Those buildings were owned by David O’Connor when they were placed on the register around the same time.