Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 September 2024
241. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he intends to act on the recommendations of the recent Law Reform Commission's report on proposed reforms to the compulsory purchase order process; if he agrees that reform in this policy area is urgent in an effort to tackle dereliction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37872/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Planning and Development Bill 2023 includes provisions in relation to Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) powers for local authorities. The provisions replicate the provisions in the Planning and Development Act 2000. The Act and the Bill both deal with acquisition of the site and the Law Reform Commission (LRC) report deals with the CPO process after the CPO has been confirmed - mainly dealing with the valuation process.
As the LRC report was published while the Bill was being prepared Government made a decision that the CPO provisions in the Bill should reflect those in the current Act and that a more comprehensive review of CPO provisions looking at both the steps up to when the CPO has been confirmed as well as the steps after that should be undertaken and should also take into account the LRC report.
Given the complexity of this area, Government agreed that it would be prudent to not update the CPO provisions as set out in the current Act but to review them in conjunction with the LRC report. As such, any future reform of Compulsory Purchase provisions will be contained in separate legislation.
The Derelict Sites Act 1990 (the Act) imposes a general duty on every owner and occupier of land to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the land does not become, or continue to be, a derelict site. The Act also imposes a duty on local authorities to take all reasonable steps, including the exercise of appropriate statutory powers, to ensure that any land within their functional area does not become, or continue to be, a derelict site. The enforcement and implementation of the provisions of the Act is a matter for individual local authorities.
It is also worth noting that placing sites on the derelict sites register, and collecting levies in respect of those sites, is not the sole mechanism that local authorities apply under the Act in relation to bringing sites back into use. They often engage collaboratively with property owners with a view to necessary works being undertaken to bring sites back into use while also using their powers under the Act to compulsorily acquire derelict sites.
The Vacant Homes Action Plan Progress Report (April 2024) sets out the significant progress that has been achieved across government under objectives contained in Pathway 4 of Housing for All in 2023 and the further steps that will be taken in 2024 to bring more vacant and derelict properties into use as homes.
A copy of the Vacant Homes Action Plan and the related Progress Report can be accessed on my Department’s website at following link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/df86c-vacant-homes-action-plan-2023-2026/
Under the Action Plan, the third round of funding was announced under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF), a €150 million revolving fund for local authorities to acquire vacant or derelict properties (residential and/or commercial), using their compulsory purchase powers where necessary and to carry out any associated works needed to de-risk or improve the property to make it more attractive for re-use or sale. The fund will be replenished from the proceeds received from the end use/user, thereby allowing the local authority to establish a rolling programme of acquisitions in order to tackle long term vacancy and dereliction without recourse to borrowing and the associated financial risk. More than 1,200 vacant and derelict properties have now been identified and approved under the scheme and the estimated residential yield from these properties is 5,406 homes.
