Government to look at league tables to show how county councils deal with vacancy and dereliction

Sources said housing minister James Browne had 'fired the warning shot for people sitting on properties and not bringing them back into use'

Housing minister James Browne will bring a memo to Government examining levels of compulsory purchase orders at a local council level. File picture

League tables highlighting how each local authority deals with vacancy and dereliction will be discussed by Cabinet on Tuesday morning.

Housing minister James Browne will bring a memo to Government examining levels of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) at a local council level.

Sources said the minister saw dereliction as “a form of anti-social behaviour” and “he has fired the warning shot for people sitting on properties and not bringing them back into use”.

The tables will show 13 councils did not acquire any derelict sites through CPO last year. Cork County and Cork City councils acquired eight sites between them.

Councils who did not use CPO powers to acquire sites includes Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Galway County and City Councils, Kerry County Council. and South Dublin County Council.

In total, 136 sites were compulsorily acquired last year, up from 120 in 2023.

In total, 6,159 properties across the State entered the CPO activation programme last year.

One Government source noted CPO was “not the be all and end all” but “it can be done, and some are doing more than others”.

Overhaul of State spending rules

Meanwhile, public expenditure minister Jack Chambers will tell ministers there will be a major overhaul of the rules and guidance for State spending.

He will outline the review of the Public Financial Procedures, which will set out expenditure management rules, and how this should be “applied in day-to-day decision-making within Government departments”.

The review will target improvements in budgetary discipline within departments, clarity around accountability for decisions taken, and driving a more evidence-based approach to expenditure decisions.

Elsewhere, Tánaiste Simon Harris will tell his colleagues that Ireland’s presidency of the European Council next year could see it host the first-ever European housing summit.

A public consultation process will be launched in the coming weeks to help determine Ireland's priorities for the presidency, which starts in July 2026. The ⁠Government has already agreed a list of up to 22 informal ministerial meetings to be hosted.