Derelict Sites Act review
Deputy Ged Nash complained that the delayed review of the Derelict Sites Act was enabling dereliction and damaging towns like Drogheda. The Taoiseach said the Government was already using grants to tackle vacancy and would seek an urgent update from the Housing Minister.
In 2021, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, set up a review of the Derelict Sites Act. In my view, the Act is being brought into disrepute on a daily basis. It is a charter for rogue property owners to evade their social responsibilities. Three years on, we are still waiting for the Minister, Deputy O’Brien’s, review to be published. While we wait for that report, the cancer of dereliction - that is what it is - is destroying places like Drogheda.
It is an insidious thing occurring all around the town. Pro-property owner laws and laissez-faire enforcement are destroying our towns. As the Taoiseach is aware, councils want to acquire properties through compulsory acquisition orders. Louth County Council has been provided with €7 million in total to compulsorily acquire properties and to work on those processes this year. That is not enough, given the scale of the problem. At my request, the Taoiseach will meet the business community in Drogheda over the next few weeks. I add that he must meet local authority members as well. Will he say on the record when the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, will publish the review of the Derelict Sites Act?
Comment on this
I thank Deputy Nash for raising this important issue. We have tried to put a focus on dereliction and vacancy through a range of grants to help local authorities and individuals to put properties back into use. I will seek an urgent update from the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, on the timeline for the Derelict Sites Act review. I look forward to having that meeting with Deputy Nash shortly on Drogheda.