Councils turn screw on vacant properties

Six fold increase on Monaghan CPO list last year

Monaghan's crackdown on long-term vacancy and dereliction resulted in a sixfold increase in the number of properties placed on the CPO Activation Programme in just 12 months. The figure rocketed from 55 to a staggering 222 in 2024 - the single largest increase recorded anywhere in the country - signalling a far tougher stance by local authorities on owners who leave buildings idle and falling apart.

County Cavan recorded a more modest rise over the same period, with entries on the CPO Activation list up by seven per cent, from 135 to 145 between 2023 and 2024. Despite that slower growth, Cavan County Council submitted a proposal to An Coimisiún Pleanála for the compulsory acquisition of a derelict property in Cavan Town. The application, lodged in November under the Compulsory Acquisition of Derelict Site Act, relates to 3 Rossa Place and is the only such application submitted by the council so far in 2025.

Cavan and Monaghan were among just nine local authorities nationwide that did not impose derelict sites levies in 2024. The others were Longford, Leitrim, Kerry, Galway County, Galway City, Fingal and Donegal.

Cavan had 24 properties listed on its derelict sites register last year and, earlier this year, launched a renewed push to wipe out dereliction across many of its 27 main towns and villages. While no derelict sites levies were imposed in the county in 2024 - and no appeals were lodged against properties being added to the register - a council spokesperson told the Celt it is “anticipated” that the imposition of the derelict sites levy on properties would “commence in 2025”.

Nationally, the scale of the problem - and the difficulty in enforcing penalties - is stark.Local authorities imposed almost €8.6 million in levies on the owners of 778 derelict sites in 2024, but managed to collect less than 10% of that sum. By the end of the year, an accumulated total of €26.3 million remained outstanding, with 1,916 sites still on the derelict register.

Since 2020, councils have had the power to impose a derelict sites levy of up to seven per cent, with unpaid charges accruing interest at 1.25% per month- a costly prospect for non-compliant owners.

Both county councils compulsorily acquired one property each in 2021. In 2023, Cavan purchased five properties under the Housing Act 1996, while Monaghan went further again in 2024, adding six properties to its housing stock using the Derelict Sites Act 1990.