The daily shame of Cork’s derelict homes is impossible to ignore
A derelict house first photographed by Frank O'Connor and Jude Sherry in 2020, which is still in the same state.
Cork City is in the enviable position of having the potential to create hundreds and hundreds of homes quicker, cheaper and more sustainably than building on green fields or high-rise apartments.
So why aren’t we? For a multitude of reasons, from speculation to hoarding, from legal challenges to apathy and a lack of leadership and enforcement, potential homes in Cork City are being left to rot when they are needed most. The recent record-breaking figure of 16,000 homeless people in Ireland, 5000 of them children, is a sobering reminder that these homes are badly needed.
You may remember we found 700 derelict properties within 2km of the city centre between 2020 and 2021. The council only had 95 registered at the time. We analysed the data for 460 of these derelict properties which we shared on Twitter every day for a year, becoming a Daily Dose of Dereliction.
We used this research to debunk 10 common myths of dereliction, which led to a well-documented national grassroots movement under #DerelictIreland that achieved global reach. This has resulted in significant changes in policy, practice, culture and even how we protest in Ireland.
But how much progress have we made since our first tweet five years ago? To understand this, we decided it was time to update our dereliction study of Cork City. Focusing on the original 460 derelict properties, our primary goal was to determine what state these were currently in.
Over the last three months we re-walked the 2km city radius, revisited the 460 locations, made observations, taken photographs and videos and undertook supporting research to confirm their current status.
Our fifth anniversary in June marked the biggest and longest study of dereliction in Ireland. So what did we find?
Nothing says welcome to Cork City the safe harbour than this absolute crazy vacancy & dereliction wastelands
— Frank O'Connor (@frank_oconnor) August 23, 2025
How this block of speculation & hoarding exists as one of main walking routes to/from centre Bus Station is beyond me
And no a lick of paint is not enough#DerelictIreland pic.twitter.com/dcmqMi0Guc
One hundred and seven of the 460 properties (23%) are back in use, mostly as homes. We welcome any progress with open arms, however, the fact that 315 (68.5%) are still in a derelict state is worryingly high after five years.
While we hope the 16 (3.5%) renovated but lying empty are just a short-term blip, we are concerned that some of these have been empty for a number of years already. The 22 (5%) currently under construction are at various stages and once they avoid the strangely common problem of long-term stalling, they could be back in use by next year.
Interestingly, it's smaller homes that are getting refurbished at a quicker rate than big sites. Perhaps evidence that the vacancy/dereliction grants are having an impact.
It's worth noting that the figures in our study do not include newly derelict buildings, such as Tom Murphys on St Patrick Street, which almost collapsed just weeks after closing in 2023. This is also reflected in Cork City Council’s updated Dereliction Registry where 30 buildings within the 2km radius were added over the last five years, buildings we did not include in our Daily Dose of Dereliction.
Seriously are they waiting for these heritage properties to fall down & kill some one
— Frank O'Connor (@frank_oconnor) September 2, 2025
Shandon St is such a beautiful historic area of Cork city
So shameful letting much needed homes like these rot
No doubt dereliction is a social crime & should be treated as such #DerelictIreland pic.twitter.com/ZKfz6bLmBw
However, the council is still substantially under-registering derelict buildings, as 71% (225) of the buildings that are in a consistent derelict state for the last five years are not on the derelict registry. A prime example of this is the first house on the thread (Nicholas Well Lane) that still has big holes in the roof, boarded up windows and doors, and even bigger trees growing out of it than it did five years ago.
All going well we hope we will witness another leap forward within 12 months. This progress is positive, particularly when you look at before/after photos and consider the reduction in negative impacts of dereliction on society, local communities, the environment and the economy.
But the current pace of progress is far too slow as it will take us another 15 years just to remove the existing dereliction. Add the emerging dereliction and it appears we are taking two steps forward and one step back.
In the last year we’ve brought #DerelictIreland out from social media and onto the streets. Our three-metre high Daily Dose of Dereliction has received resounding support when we’ve toured it in Cork and Dublin.
By bringing so many photos together we show the scale of the problem as well as the scale of the opportunity. These eye-catching street art installations give us an opportunity hear what people currently feel about the state of dereliction in Ireland and what they would like to see happen next.
Hall of Shame. Most Derelict Competition Winners (losers) of the DVD Festival of Ideas are as follows.
— Derelict Drogheda (@DerelictDrawda) June 17, 2025
1st: Donaghy's Mill
2nd: Abbey Centre
3rd: McPhail's
Thanks everyone who took time to vote online or in person at McHughs on Saturday.
We hope the owners are embarrassed. pic.twitter.com/j3lYTWbciq
We get strangers thanking us for our campaigning while also lamenting a time when they could ignore the widespread dereliction. Once you see it, it’s impossible to unsee it.
One thing we’ve noted is the amount of people who praise us for shaming the council into action, even Pat Kenny called it ‘guerilla shaming’ when interviewing Jude on his Newstalk radio show. This was never our intention, but it does say a lot about our cities and towns, where just displaying images of our daily experience amounts to shaming.
It’s probably no surprise that we’ve never met a person who wanted the dereliction epidemic to continue. Whereas hundreds of people have raised significant concerns over the widespread dereliction, lack of housing, decaying heritage, the impact on the local economy, and the lack of community spaces.
Through these conversations on the street we have learned that a lot of people are struggling due to extortionate rents and a dysfunctional housing situation. These conversations also reconfirmed that the real power in our campaign is its accessibility and simplicity.
Three out of four of our Eyesore of the Year nominations were put on @sligococo #derelictireland register shortly after we had our nomination night.
— Sligo Housing (@SHAGsligo) August 20, 2025
Was it a coincidence? pic.twitter.com/Iivjnxz4pi
So simple that it was repeated by thousands around Ireland who continue to share images of derelict buildings in their neighbourhoods all under #DerelictIreland. While others have formed community groups, such as Drogheda Vacancy and Dereliction Taskforce which started through 200 days of Vacancy in 2022 and in June this year ran a Festival of Ideas.
Or Sligo Housing Action Group’s research which found 303 derelict buildings in the town centre and who have recently embarked on a street art blackboard and chalk campaign to shine a bright light on the worst derelict buildings.
We know what we need to do and no doubt progress is happening but the recent collapse of five D4 homes owned by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) is a harsh reminder that we still have a dangerous dereliction crisis in Ireland. A social crime that urgently needs to be eradicated so everyone has a home, a place to play and create.
Homes or dereliction? Surely it’s a no-brainer. We live with dóchas.
- Jude and Frank are artists, designers, activists and instigators of the #DerelictIreland movement
