Government Cannot Blame Councils for a Dereliction Crisis It Created
Government Cannot Blame Councils for a Dereliction Crisis It Created - The Labour Party
Labour councillors have criticised attempts to shift responsibility for Ireland’s vacancy and dereliction crisis onto local authorities, describing such claims as “a convenient distraction from years of Government failure.
Labour chair of the Councillors Executive Cllr Dermot Lacey said it was extraordinary that the Tanaiste was seeking to point the finger at councils after more than a decade of housing shortages, town centre decline, and underinvestment in local government.
Cllr Lacey said:
“The suggestion that local authorities are the reason derelict buildings remain vacant is simply not credible. Councils did not create this crisis.
“The crisis is the result of years of failed housing policy, weak enforcement mechanisms, chronic underinvestment in local government and a refusal to provide councils with the tools needed to intervene effectively.
“Local authority staff are already stretched trying to tackle vacancy and dereliction while managing housing delivery, planning, regeneration, climate action and a growing range of statutory responsibilities.
“Ministers cannot demand results while refusing to provide the resources required to achieve them. Every councillor in the country knows that local authorities need more planners, more housing staff, more enforcement officers and more legal resources if they are to tackle dereliction at the scale required.”
Cllr Lacey said the continued delay in introducing Compulsory Sale Orders was particularly frustrating.
“For years local authorities have identified properties that are abandoned, neglected and blighting communities, yet the legal process for bringing many of these sites back into use remains slow, costly and cumbersome. Compulsory Sale Orders would provide a practical and proportionate mechanism to unlock long-term vacant and derelict properties and return them to productive use.
“Government rhetoric must now be matched by action.
“Communities do not need another round of blame-shifting. They want to see empty buildings turned into homes, derelict sites regenerated and town centres revitalised. That requires meaningful reform, not headlines.”
Labour coucillors have called on Government to immediately:
- Introduce and fully resource Compulsory Sale Orders.
- Increase funding for vacancy and dereliction teams in every local authority.
- Expand staffing across planning, housing, regeneration and legal services.
- Provide dedicated funding for compulsory acquisition and site activation.
- Establish clear national targets for bringing vacant and derelict properties back into use.
“Local authorities are not the obstacle to progress. They are the frontline agencies tasked with solving a problem that successive governments have allowed to deepen. If Government is serious about tackling vacancy and dereliction, it should stop looking for scapegoats and start giving councils the powers, staffing and resources they have been requesting for years.”