Cork County Council failed to collect €362,000 in derelict site levies in 2023, new figures show

'During 2023, invoices totalling just €28,000 were issued, with no amounts collected during the year, resulting in a year-end debtor of €362,000,' audit says

All local authorities must keep a derelict sites register, and owners of such sites in urban areas are obliged to pay a levy of 7% of the market value of the land concerned. File picture: Dan Linehan

Cork County Council collected no money at all from the derelict sites levy in 2023, and failed to issue more than €200,000 worth of invoices for the tax due to a “lack of a centralised approach”, an audit has found.

The report from the Local Government Audit Service told the council to improve performance in this area, after it ended the year with €362,000 owed in the levies.