Dublin dereliction figures blasted by Councillor: 'We know there's more than that'
The “serious lack of political will” in regards to the housing crisis in Dublin was blasted by a local Councillor - who questioned the legitimacy of his area’s dereliction figures.
At Monday’s North Central Area Committee meeting, Independent Councillor Kevin Breen questioned the figures presented in the most recent Derelict Sites Report. While the report highlighted 11 sites within the North Central Area on the Derelict Sites Register , he stated “we all know as a collective that there’s more than that.”
“I think this reflects a serious lack of political will within Dublin City Council that we don’t get to grips with an issue like dereliction,” he said. Describing housing as “the number one concern for the people of our city,” he expressed disappointment that the Council “are not willing” to go after “low-hanging fruit” like dereliction.
“We see millions being spent on projects, but in terms of vacancy and dereliction we need to get better at identifying buildings. We need to get to the source and get these properties back into the housing stock so the people of this city can live in their forever homes,” he said.
While derelict site inspections have increased over the past year with new properties being added to the report, Cllr Breen bemoaned the fact that so many properties seem to remain unregistered. With 11 sites currently on the register, six were removed and four were added since February 1, 2025. This leaves the derelict sites levies owed to the council currently standing at €730,024.76.
Recent reports confirm that Cork City Council will not be chasing the more than €5 million they are owed from derelict sites after the Revenue Commissioners take over its collection in 2027. However, the manager’s response stated Dublin City Council has not received any communication about halting their collection process.
With just two inspectors tasked with carrying out derelict site inspections across the whole city, there were 91 North Central Area inspections between February and the end of October 2025. The database system is also currently being updated with the hopes for more efficiency.
This update includes cleaning existing data to provide clearing information on project updates, mapping out all the sites currently under investigation by the team, and putting in place revised procedures for said team. Five sites removed from the register have been renovated back to standard and can now be brought back into use. With two properties, one in Lorcan Crescent and the other in Saint Brendan's Park, to be used for housing.
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