Kerry County Council was owed over €700,000 in unpaid derelict sites levies at the end of 2023.
Figures provided to the Dáil by Minister for Housing James Browne, show the extent to which local authorities addressed dereliction in their areas during 2022 and 2023.
The Derelict Sites Act 1990 allows local authorities to charge a levy on derelict sites, and to pursue compulsory purchase orders for sites which continue to be derelict.
Each local authority must keep a record of all derelict sites in their areas, and all sites on the register are subject to an annual levy worth 7% of the property’s market value.
The figures show that at the start of 2022, there were 65 properties on Kerry County Council’s derelict sites register.
11 further properties were added to the register during 2022, while 26 were removed; if a property is removed from the register, it generally means the property has been brought into use or visually tidied up.
There were then 50 properties on Kerry County Council’s derelict sites register at the end of 2022, and 45 sites were the subject of the 7% levy by the council during that year.
In total, almost €190,000 should have been collected in derelict sites levies by Kerry County Council in 2022, but just over €2,400 was received.
In addition to unpaid levies from previous years, this meant over €470,000 in unpaid derelict sites levies remained outstanding in Kerry at the end of 2022.
This amount rose again in 2023, when 25 more sites were added to the register and 11 were removed.
50 derelict sites were levied by the council in 2023, totalling over €230,000, but the figures show none of this was collected.
It left over €700,000 in uncollected derelict sites levies by Kerry County Council at the end of 2023.
Just five other local authorities have higher totals of uncollected levies, but some local authorities did not levy any derelict sites during those years, meaning there is no amounts outstanding.
The figures also show that no derelict sites were acquired at all by Kerry County Council in 2022 or 2023, either by agreement or by compulsory purchase.
