Councils ‘too slow’ to take action on derelict sites

Junior minister warns local authorities that 'inconsistency' in tackling vacancy and dereliction is 'undermining national efforts'

Junior ministers Christopher O'Sullivan and John Cummins with housing minister James Browne and junior minister Kieran O'Donnell at a Budget 2026 press conference earlier this month. Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews

Junior housing minister John Cummins has warned local authorities that “inconsistency” in tackling vacancy and dereliction is “undermining national efforts”, as he accused some councils of being “too slow to take decisive action”.

Mr Cummins, Fine Gael’s minister of state for planning, will extend exemptions for another three years to allow the conversion of commercial units to residential without planning permission.

Between 2018 and 2024, some 1,500 property owners and developers availed of the planning exemption, yielding 3,400 new homes. In 2024, there were 292 exemption notifications, resulting in 713 homes.

The exemption was due to expire in December.

It comes as Mr Cummins has also warned local authorities that they need to crack down on dereliction and vacancy and utilise compulsory purchase order (CPO) powers to take control of vacant and derelict properties.

He said there is too much “inconsistency” in how councils deal with the issue and that some are working “too slowly”.  Mr Cummins said: 

Nothing frustrates people more than seeing vacant and derelict properties in their cities, towns, and villages. 

“As minister responsible for local government, I’ve travelled to 17 local authorities across the country and met with senior executive teams in each to examine how they are tackling the scourge of dereliction in their counties. 

'Impressed' by some local authorities

"I have been impressed by a number of local authorities and their proactive action to issue derelict-sites notices, including derelict properties on their register and follow-through with CPOs.

“However, I’ve also had robust conversations with directors of services and CEOs who are simply not prioritising this issue to the extent needed.”

Local authorities have strong legal tools, under the Derelict Sites Act, to compulsorily purchase properties, and they should not hesitate to use them when property owners refuse to act, he said.

Those powers cannot go unused. I will be revisiting those counties to see what progress has been made.

“Some are far too slow to take decisive action, and inconsistency is undermining the national effort to tackle the problem.

“Importantly, there is a duty on property owners to engage with their local authorities to find a resolution, so we can continue to bring homes back to the market.”

Budget 2026 confirmed that a new derelict property tax will be introduced to tackle dereliction. This is expected to replace the derelict-sites levy, which is an annual levy of 7% of the land’s market value. This is collected by local authorities.

Local authorities will have a continuing role in the identification and registration of derelict properties in their areas for the purposes of the tax.

In his budget-day speech, finance minister Paschal Donohoe confirmed that he would bring forward legislation for the new tax, which will be collected by Revenue next year.

He further noted that preliminary registers of dereliction will be published in 2027, and the tax will be implemented “as soon as possible after this date”. 

Mr Donohoe stated that he does “not intend” for the new Derelict Property Tax rate to be lower than the 7% currently applied under the Derelict Sites Levy.

It is understood Mr Cummins believes the new tax should be higher than 7%.