120. Deputy Brian Brennan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures his Department is taking to monitor whether local authorities are actively seeking out and registering all derelict properties within their areas to ensure that action can be taken to bring these properties back into use; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48002/26]

Local authorities have been provided with a number of powers and measures to deal with the issue of derelict properties, both in larger urban areas and in smaller rural towns and villages.

The Derelict Sites Act 1990 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.

Local authority powers include requiring owners or occupiers to take appropriate measures on derelict sites, acquiring derelict sites by agreement, or compulsorily, and applying a derelict sites levy on derelict sites with a view to influencing property owners to bring their properties back into productive use or to put them on the market with a view to being put into use. It is a matter for local authorities to determine the most appropriate use of the legislation within their respective functional areas.

Under Section 8 of the Derelict Sites Act 1990, local authorities are required to maintain a Derelict Sites Register, of any land which, in the opinion of the local authority, is a derelict site. A property can be placed on the derelict site register where it is deemed by a local authority to satisfy the criteria of a derelict site under the terms of section 3 of the Act.

Local authorities may use the Derelict Sites Act 1990 to financially levy such sites and also to secure their public control/ownership where appropriate. The Derelict Sites Levy is charged at 7% of the market value of the land concerned.

The local authority also can acquire a derelict site in its area, either by agreement with the owner or by compulsory acquisition. Compulsory acquisition via the Derelict Sites Act 1990 is a structured process led by the local authority involving specified timelines and subsequent adjudication by An Coimisiún Pleanála, if appealed by the property owner.

A Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) Activation Programme was launched by my Department in April 2023. The Programme supports a proactive and systematic approach by local authorities to the re-use of vacant and derelict properties. It also includes guidance for local authorities to actively use their legislative powers, including under the Derelict Sites Act, to acquire vacant and derelict properties, where engagement with owners has been unsuccessful.

The placing of sites on the Register and the collecting of levies on those sites is part of the overall process that Local Authorities undertake with the owners of derelict sites they identify.

The introduction of a Derelict Property Tax was announced in Budget 2026 and it is intended to introduce legislation providing for the tax in 2026, which will include definitions for the purposes of the measure. This tax will, when it comes into effect, replace the Derelict Sites Levy and will be collected by the Revenue Commissioners. Updating and maintaining their Derelict Sites/Property Registers will continue to remain the responsibility of local authorities, and Derelict Sites levies that remain outstanding when the new tax is introduced will remain as charges on the land and will be the responsibility of each local authority to collect.