Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 October 2025
119. Deputy Noel McCarthy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of vacant or derelict properties registered in Cork county from 2022 to 2024 and to date in 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53282/25]
View answer130. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of registered derelict or vacant housing properties in Dublin Rathdown; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53386/25]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 119 and 130 together.
Addressing vacancy and dereliction is a key priority for Government.
The Vacant Homes Action Plan, published in January 2023, set out the various actions being pursued to return vacant properties back into use as homes. In March, I published the 2025 Progress Report which shows the significant progress that is being made and it is available on my Department's website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/df86c-vacant-homes-action-plan-2023-2026/ .
Data in relation to vacant properties is available from a number of sources such as the CSO, Census 2022 and GeoDirectory.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has recently developed a new statistical release on residential vacancy. The release, published on 24 September 2025, provides information on the extent of residential vacancy in 2022 and 2023, using ESB data on metered residential electricity consumption, with future regular publications planned.
In the release, the CSO note a national vacancy rate of 3.3% at the end of Q4 2023, down from 3.6% in Q4 2022. Data is provided at a national, local authority and local electoral level, including for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and Cork County. This release will further inform our understanding of vacancy and the development of policy and measures to address it.
In the latest GeoDirectory Residential Buildings Report for Q2 2025, the average vacancy rate across Ireland had dropped to 3.7%, the lowest rate recorded since 2013; a local authority breakdown is also provided.
My Department has also supported local authorities to collate data on vacant and derelict properties in their administrative areas. Almost all local authorities, including Cork County Council and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, now have a database of vacant properties which they can update on an ongoing basis. The database is not intended to be a comprehensive count of every vacant and derelict property in their administrative area. It is used by the local authority to engage with property owners and work with them to bring those properties back into use.
Under section 8 of the Derelict Sites Act 1990, a local authority is obliged to maintain a Derelict Sites Register and shall enter on to the register the particulars of any land in their functional area which, in their opinion, is a derelict site. Under Section 23 of the Act, local authorities may apply a Derelict Sites Levy (DSL), on an annual basis, for sites entered on the derelict sites register on the 1 January of that year. Data is provided on the number of properties on Derelict Sites Registers in Cork County and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown in 2022 and 2023. My Department is currently engaged with all local authorities in the process of collecting and collating the 2024 annual returns.
|
Local Authority |
No. of Derelict Sites on Register at 31 December 2022 |
No. of Derelict Sites on Register at 31 December 2023 |
|
Cork County |
59 |
71 |
|
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown |
11 |
10 |
While varying levels and rates of vacancy are indicated in the different data sources, the overall trend is downwards and vacancy levels are declining.
