Almost 150 properties worth in excess of €20m on Wexford’s derelict sites register

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Wexford County Council (WCC) has almost tripled the number of properties on its derelict sites register in the past three years as it continues its efforts to bring vacant buildings back into use. At the end of 2025 there were 149 properties on the register with an accumulative value in excess of €20m. Valued by an independent advisor, the most expensive property currently on WCC’s derelict sites register is the Old Court House in Gorey which is valued at €650,000 and is owned by Dab Property Investment Limited from Kilmuckridge.

Other notable properties on the list are the former nightclub in Templeshannon, Enniscorthy which is valued at €450,000 and owned by Donohue Motor Salvage Limited, and Steele & Co in Priory Street, New Ross which is valued at €600,000 and is owned by Mark Minihan.

While the picket outside The Great Southern Hotel has long since disappeared, along with any prospect of the building being converted into an IPAS centre, the site remains derelict and is listed with a valuation of €550,000.

The old Great Southern Hotel site in Rosslare Harbour.

A number of once thriving businesses in Co Wexford have become derelict with the passage of time including the old pub in Hookless Village, Fethard-on-Sea (€150,000), Coogan’s/Kavanagh’s in Enniscorthy (€150,000), the swimming pool in Hookless (€100,000), the Crossroads Foodstore in Wexford town (€200,000) which is to be placed on the open market by WCC, the old creamery in Ballycanew (€500,000), and Spring Valley Nursing Home in Enniscorthy which is valued at €450,000.

The council can serve notices to owners to clean up derelict sites, prosecute owners who do not comply with notices served, issue Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPO), carry out works to clean up derelict sites, and charge the owner of the land for the cost of the works.

The council carried out 386 on-site inspections in 2025 and issued 136 formal notices to property owners. 300 open files were under investigation by WCC at the end of 2025.

At the January meeting of the Gorey Kilmuckridge Municipal District (GKMD) senior planner Tom Banville provided an update on the status of derelict sites in the area.

“We currently have 58 sites under investigation in the GKMD, 30 of those are on the derelict register,” he said. “Our focus to date has been on the towns and we received funding to actively pursue properties in Wexford’s four main towns. At the moment there are 12 in Gorey which we are looking into, in addition we have applied a CPO to a number of properties in Gorey, sold others, and brought 40 back into use.”

With some properties sitting on the derelict sites register for 20 years or more, Mr Banville said levies were applied to encourage the owner to either sell the building or return it to use.

“There is some discretion, there has to be, we take a reasonable approach to it, we give owners time to get planning permission (to bring it back into use). The more engagement we get from the owners the more time we will give them. If there’s no engagement we act quite quickly. Last year we issued levies amounting to €325,000, that amount keeps increasing as we add more properties to the list.

"Once we value the property we levy it at a rate of 7 pc, but if there’s engagement we don’t levy them.”

Admitting that collection of those levies is quite low, Mr Banville said the council generally recoups that money when a property is sold.

“The levy works as a way to bring the property back into use. We get an independent valuation on the property and then we can start applying the annual levies to the owner.”

Collecting these fees may soon be the duty of The Revenue according to director of planning, Liz Hore, who said that WCC is one of the best performing local authorities in the country when it comes to returning properties to use.

“We were allocated €6m under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF), and we have only spent a net of €1m thus far due to how successful the programme,” she said as she reiterated the intention to “target more rural properties” going forward.

Highlighting four properties which hadn’t yet come to the attention of WCC, Councillor Oliver Walsh asked whether houses in Blackwater which had been subject to vandalism could be added to the list.

“In Ashfield Estate there were four houses which weren’t finished and the banks eventually sold them off,” he said. “A new builder came in and finished the houses off just before Covid-19, but nothing has been done with them since and they’re starting to be vandalised. Is there a timeline for when they can be put on the list?”

"The first stage is to carry out an inspection,” replied Mr Banville, “we will someone send out to investigate.”

A boarded-up building at the end of Esmonde Street in Gorey has continually been referenced by local politicians, and Cathaoirleach Donal Kenny asked what Mr Banville and his team intended to do with a property which has lain idle for almost 20 years.

“I have had engagement with the owner of that property, it’s on the derelict sites register and is subject to levies,” said Mr Banville.

Cllr Darragh McDonald meanwhile asked that the council adopt a zero-tolerance approach to those flouting the rules.

“I wouldn’t be taking any nonsense from anyone going slow on this, it’s a very slippery slope if we become too lenient, we shouldn’t be given the run-around,” he insisted.