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BOARDED-UP HOUSES and crumbling buildings are a common feature of towns and cities across Ireland.
Derelict buildings contribute significantly to Ireland’s housing crisis, and bringing them back into use is one of the government’s strategies for addressing social housing shortfalls and getting more homes on the market.
Last month, the compulsory purchase order (CPO) process was used via An Coimisiún Pleanála for just one property, located in Co Waterford – which is the same number of properties that were submitted to ACP in December too.
Under laws introduced in 1990, every local council keeps a Derelict Sites Register to encourage owners to bring vacant houses and land into use through the imposition of an annual levy of 7% of the property’s market value, which applies until the site is no longer derelict.
When someone objects to a local authority’s attempt to obtain a property via the CPO process, the council can apply to An Coimisiún Pleanála to do so.
The Housing Act also allows local authorities to acquire vacant homes via CPO, which they must also apply to do via the commission.
The process is similar to making a planning application, and the board weighs up submissions from the council and the owner of the land before deciding whether a site can be subject to a CPO.
The number of properties that councils try to CPO via the commission every month is relatively small.
The Journal has been keeping track of the vacant and derelict properties that councils have sought to acquire in recent months.
There are usually multiple applications to the board to acquire housing in most months, but January has now joined December as the first months in The Journal’s series where an application was made to CPO just one property.
This list shows the total number of applications made by councils to CPO derelict properties since our series began in 2025:
On 12 January, Waterford City and County Council applied to the commission for consent to CPO a property called The Gate Lodge, situated on East Main Street in Lismore.
Not much is known about the property or the council’s efforts to contact the owner, who is named on a map of the site as one Brendan Ottman.
Google Street View images show the small property has its door and a downstairs window boarded up, while the glass in the only upstairs window has been smashed. The property also appears to be overgrown at the rear.
The council has estimated the site’s value at €50,000 on its derelict sites register, but does say that it attempted to contact the owner a number of times since 2024.
The case is due to be decided by 23 April.
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