LOCAL COUNCILS ARE taking too long to release vacant and derelict homes back onto the housing market, the Taoiseach said in the Dáil when defending the government’s record on dereliction today.

Boarded-up houses and crumbling buildings are a common feature of towns and cities across Ireland and, under compulsorily purchase orders, local councils can buy vacant homes in order to upgrade them and put them back into use.

During a debate on dereliction in the Dáil today, Labour leader Ivana Bacik criticised the government’s record on tackling the issue, and claimed that the collapse of a vacant home’s facade in Dublin yesterday is evidence that not enough was being done.

She added: “Taoiseach, that is just one very stark example of the scourge of vacancy and dereliction. Vacancy blights more than just street scapes, because whenever I raise it in this house -and I’ve raised it many times – I see vacant stares from government.”

Bacik criticised the government's record on vacancy and dereliction. Oireacthas.ie Oireacthas.ie

Responding, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he disagreed with the Labour TD on her assessment of the government’s record on vacancy and dereliction. He said the uptake of grant programmes are “successful”.

The Fianna Fáil leader said the issue on the subject of dereliction often lies in the speed at which local authorities bring properties back onto the market following compulsory purchase orders.

“It can take sometimes [up to] a year for the local authority to fill the same house again, and they cite all sorts of reasons, and it’s not good enough. And now they’re looking for more and more grants to fill those voids,” Martin said.

The Taoiseach said those homes should be filled more quickly – within a week of renovations – and that there has already been a “substantial funding” given to local authorities between 2020 and 2022 to tackle dereliction.

Bacik said it was not good enough that the Taoiseach was seeking to “pass the buck” to local authorities when the policy processes start within central government. She said the “impotence and driving focus” on dereliction needs to come from Leinster House. 

The Journal previously reported that four councils sought to acquire just six properties in April, including a number of derelict houses and a former shop that was damaged by fire eight years ago, following objections to An Bord Pleanála.