Ireland’s derelict sites crisis: what local authority staff need to know
Ireland has close to 20,000 derelict residential properties. Enforcement is being overhauled, political pressure is mounting, and the legal framework is about to change.
For local authority staff responsible for dealing with derelict sites, 2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year.
The scale of the problem
The most recent GeoDirectory Residential Buildings Report (Q4 2025), prepared by EY Economic Advisory, recorded 19,438 derelict residential units across the State. While this represents a 3.3% decrease compared to the previous year, the number remains stubbornly high.
Dereliction is not evenly distributed. Connacht accounts for over a third of all derelict residential buildings nationally. Mayo has the highest concentration, with 14.1% of all derelict properties in the country, followed by Donegal and Galway.
Meanwhile, Ireland’s national residential vacancy rate stood at a record low of 3.7% at the end of 2025, with 79,703 residential units classified as vacant. In Dublin, just 1.2% of the housing stock was vacant. The contrast is stark: housing demand is intense, yet thousands of properties remain unused and deteriorating.
A 35-year-old law, still under-enforced
The Derelict Sites Act 1990 gives local authorities clear powers to address dereliction. They can maintain a Derelict Sites Register, serve notices on owners requiring remedial works, impose an annual levy of 7% of the site’s market value, and pursue compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) where necessary.
In practice, enforcement has been patchy. According to Department of Housing figures for 2023 (the latest available), ten local authorities had never levied derelict site owners in their areas. Seventeen out of 31 councils collected no levy income at all that year. Across the State, just €604,621 was collected from a total of €5.6 million levied, while cumulative unpaid levies stood at over €20.5 million.
These figures were raised in the Dáil in May 2025. Only one in three of the 1,913 properties then on the national Derelict Sites Register had been levied at all. As one TD put it, land hoarders were “laughing” at local authorities.
A wake-up call on Canal Road
On 12 May 2025, the roof of a derelict Victorian cottage on Canal Road in Dublin 6 collapsed, propelling the front wall onto the footpath and road beside the Grand Canal. Debris narrowly missed a cyclist and a pedestrian. No one was injured, but the incident attracted national media attention and political scrutiny.
The five-house terrace, dating from the late 19th century, had been on Dublin City Council’s Derelict Sites Register since June 2023. It emerged that the property owner, the Construction Industry Federation, had accrued €140,000 in unpaid derelict site levies, despite being party to a site sale worth an estimated €23 million.
The incident highlighted the real-world consequences of inaction. Dereliction is not just an eyesore or a housing policy issue. It is a public safety concern. When buildings are left to deteriorate for years, they become dangerous to passers-by, to neighbouring properties, and to the communities around them.
What is changing: the Derelict Property Tax
Budget 2026, announced on 7 October 2025, introduced a significant reform. The existing Derelict Sites Levy will be replaced by a new Derelict Property Tax (DPT), collected by the Revenue Commissioners rather than by individual local authorities.
The key changes are as follows. The tax rate will be at least 7% of the property’s market value, matching the current levy floor. Revenue will take over collection, replacing what Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe described as a “mixed bag” of enforcement across councils. Legislation is to be brought forward in 2026. Local authorities will compile preliminary registers of derelict properties, to be published in 2027. The tax will be implemented as soon as possible after that date. Non-payment could result in owners being placed on Revenue’s public tax defaulters list.
Housing Minister James Browne described dereliction as “anti-social behaviour” and stated that the government was “declaring a war on dereliction“. Minister Donohoe acknowledged that while local authorities “do excellent work“, there are “really significant difficulties with the collection of the current derelict levies“.
The shift to Revenue is widely seen as a game-changer. Revenue has centralised systems, legal powers, and a track record of enforcement that individual councils have struggled to match. However, the transition also means local authority staff will play a critical role in identifying and registering derelict properties accurately, because Revenue’s enforcement will rely on the quality of the data councils provide.
What this means for local authority enforcement teams
For officers working on derelict sites, several things are clear.
Scrutiny is increasing. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing examined dereliction in detail in October 2025. National media coverage is sustained. Public awareness campaigns, including the prominent #DerelictIreland movement, have brought the issue into mainstream public debate. Local authorities are being asked to account for their enforcement activity in a way that was not the case even five years ago.
The legal framework is getting stricter. The move from a levy to a Revenue-collected tax signals that the government expects more rigorous identification and registration of derelict sites. Councils that have historically under-reported or under-enforced will face greater pressure to act.
Accuracy matters more than ever. The quality of the derelict sites register, the evidence supporting each entry, the valuations, the procedural steps followed, will underpin Revenue’s ability to collect the new tax. Errors in registration, poorly documented evidence, or procedural failings could undermine enforcement and expose councils to legal challenge.
Courtroom and oral hearing skills are essential. Property owners have the right to object to inclusion on the register and to challenge CPOs. Oral hearings before An Coimisiún Pleanála are a formal, adversarial process. Officers need to be confident and competent when presenting evidence, responding to cross-examination, and defending the council’s position.
Getting it right from the start
Dealing with derelict sites requires a combination of statutory knowledge, investigative skill, and the ability to present evidence under challenge. Staff involved in the process, from initial identification and inspection through to enforcement, oral hearings, and courtroom proceedings, need to understand both the law and the practical realities of how it is applied.
This includes knowing the Derelict Sites Act 1990 in detail, maintaining accurate contemporaneous notes and statements, preparing reports that withstand legal scrutiny, and presenting evidence with clarity and confidence in formal settings.
La Touche Training’s new two-day programme, Dealing with Derelict Sites, is designed to equip local authority staff with exactly these skills. Delivered by practising solicitors and legal training specialists, the course covers the full legal and procedural framework in Module 1, and courtroom and oral hearing skills in Module 2.
Next date: 7–8 October 2026, delivered via Zoom.
Sources
- GeoDirectory Residential Buildings Report, Q4 2025 (prepared by EY Economic Advisory), reported by OceanFM, Galway Daily, Roscommon Herald, February 2026.
- GeoDirectory Residential Buildings Report, Q2 2025 (prepared by EY Economic Advisory), published August 2025.
- “No derelict site levy issued in 10 local authority areas”, The Irish Times, 19 March 2025.
- “Majority of county councils failed to collect the Derelict Sites Levy for two years in a row”, The Journal, 17 March 2025.
- “Land hoarders ‘laughing’ at local authorities as €20.5m owed in unpaid derelict site levies”, The Irish Times, 15 May 2025.
- “Vacant building near Dublin’s Grand Canal partially collapses”, The Journal, 12 May 2025.
- “Construction Industry Federation owes €140,000 in derelict levies at €23m site of Dublin 6 terrace collapse”, The Irish Times, 15 May 2025.
- Budget 2026 summary, Citizens Information, updated October 2025.
- “Property owners who fail to pay Derelict Tax could end up on tax defaulters list, says Donohoe”, The Journal, 7 October 2025.
- “Towns, villages ‘blighted by dereliction’, Committee told”, RTÉ News, 21 October 2025.
- Derelict Sites Act 1990, Citizens Information, updated June 2025.
