100 railway buildings among hundreds of empty properties owned by the State

CIÉ and OPW among state agencies sitting on empty properties, described as 'akin to exporting food in the middle of a famine'

The National Built Heritage Service describes this building at Hazelhatch & Celbridge Railway Station as a 'detached three-bay single-storey railway station with half-dormer attic, opened 1846.... Now disused.' Picture: BuildingsOfIreland.ie

Serious concerns have been raised around the number of vacant or derelict properties owned by the State, including more than 100 former railway cottages.

Separately, the Office of Public Works (OPW) has confirmed that it has 66 vacant properties in its portfolio of buildings and sites.

Responding to Labour leader Ivana Bacik, Ireland’s largest public transport provider CIÉ confirmed it owns approximately 100 former railway cottages, many of which would have been lived in by gate keepers at now closed level crossings, that are not in use.

CIÉ said these properties are derelict or uninhabitable and are “incapable of being brought back into residential use”, but did not provide information on how it has made this assessment.

Limerick City TD and Labour housing spokesman Conor Sheehan said: 'Vacancy and dereliction is the low-hanging fruit of the housing crisis.' Picture: Sam Boal/Collins

There are also derelict properties at Hazelhatch station in Co Kildare and at Carey’s Rd in Limerick being held for future operational use, at which time they will be demolished.

Labour TD for Limerick City, Conor Sheehan said: “Vacancy and dereliction is the low-hanging fruit of the housing crisis. It is very clear from these figures that the Government is not serious about tackling this.

"We have seen throughout the country that state bodies such as the HSE and CIÉ own swathes of vacant properties and these must be activated as a matter of urgency." 

They must be completed by Government to transfer these properties to local authorities, approved housing bodies, or the Land Development Agency in order to activate them as a matter of urgency. 

Separately, information received by Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín shows 66 vacant properties are owned by the OPW, consisting of 45 buildings and 21 sites.

Mr Tóibín that said it is “absolutely wrong” that the State still has vacant properties when 15,600 people are homeless and called for a “sense of urgency” either to sell or bring back these buildings into use. Mr Tóibín said: 

Having vacant properties in a housing crisis is akin to exporting food in the middle of a famine. 

“It is not just the OPW. It involves many departments including the HSE and the departments of agriculture and Justice. 

"Hundreds of properties and parcels of land owned by the State are vacant and many have been for decades.”

Responding, OPW minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran said work is underway on vacant properties with 14 properties already transferred to Tipperary County Council for social housing.

“Eight residential units in Dublin city centre were leased to housing agencies,” Mr Moran said. 

“A building in Crumlin was leased to Dublin City Council for use as a family hub. Two former garda stations in Cork were transferred to social housing. Three garda stations in Limerick went to social housing.

“It is not always easy to find an end use for them because some are in isolated areas. There is always a use for any property that is in an urban setting, but some of the properties we have are not in areas where people require them.”