Plans to compulsorily purchase 24 long-derelict Tipperary homes hit by setback
A bid by Tipperary County Council to compulsorily purchase 24 long-derelict homes in Emly has been deemed invalid by An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP).
Earlier this summer, Tipperary County Council began the process of compulsorily acquiring 24 derelict houses in the Glen Court estate in Emly, outside Tipperary town.
The estate has been blighted by vacancy for years, with boarded-up homes and damaged roofs, while more than 200 people remain on the social housing waiting list in the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel Municipal District.
The houses were built during the Celtic Tiger, but after the financial crash in 2008, the developer ran into difficulties, and the estate was never fully finished.
The 24 houses have been on Tipperary County Council’s derelict sites register since 2025, although they had been vacant for many years before being added to the register.
However, An Coimisiún Pleanála has deemed the council’s CPO application invalid, putting the proposed acquisition of the homes on hold.
It is not yet known why the application was deemed invalid by the national planning board.
Derelict homes in Glen Court estate in Tipperary.
Earlier this year, Sinn Féin councillor for Tipperary town Annemarie Ryan welcomed the official start of the process and said that her and her council colleagues had been engaging with residents in the estate for a number of years.
“I’m very happy to have worked with the district, the council’s environment section, the Town Regeneration Team, the Glen Court residents and my colleague councillor Mary Hannah Hourigan, in order to get the CPO process underway,” she said.
“I was elected first in 2019, I started my work on dereliction and vacancy then. It’s taken this long to get to this stage, so I completely understand people’s frustration in the process,” the Sinn Féin councillor added.
Cllr Ryan said that while positive work has been done by the Government and county councils, there was more work that needed to be done to address the issues of vacancy and dereliction around the county.
“More funding from central government is needed, we’re too big a county for one regeneration team,” she said.
“[We need] stronger more enforceable legislation to penalise those who allow properties to deteriorate and leaving them vacant, higher penalties for long term vacancy and dereliction... and target setting in each local authority to address vacancy and dereliction in town and village centres,” the Sinn Féin councillor added.