Tanáiste’s ‘full-frontal attack’ roundly criticised as Rosslare chair says council doesn’t have ‘the teeth’ to tackle dereliction

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

The suggestion that county councils “haven’t done enough” to tackle the “scourge of dereliction” has been strongly rejected by the chair of the Rosslare Municipal District (RMD).

Earlier this week, Tanáiste Simon Harris said that, from October, Revenue would be entrusted with collecting vacant-site levies instead of local authorities as he sought to strengthen legislation around dereliction.

Claiming that central government had given county councils “extra staff” and “extra funding” to deal with the issue, the Tanáiste said “if you were to look at the derelict sites register, you’d swear to God dereliction was only in a couple of counties”.

While Wexford County Council (WCC) wasn’t namechecked as one of the worst performers when it comes to addressing dereliction, the Tanáiste’s comments hit a nerve with the members of the RMD.

At their June meeting, Cathaoirleach Ger Carthy asked why a party which has either been in government or in confidence and supply for the last 15 years had not thought to entrust Revenue with collecting levies previously.

“We have houses in our district which have been derelict for that length of time, but WCC doesn’t have the teeth to go and drag the money out of people who own derelict properties,” he said.

“This was a full-frontal attack from two parties which have been in government or confidence and supply for almost 16 years. Now, after all that time, they’re going to engage with the revenue commissioners on this. “

A further issue, according to Councillor Carthy, is how grants will be allocated to those who wish to return ‘over the shop’ spaces back into residential use. Under this grant scheme, property owners can receive a a maximum of €135,000 for the refurbishment/conversion of vacant units into residential homes.

“We have a situation where we’re talking about renovating over shops,” said Cllr Carthy, “but if a building is bought in a company name you can’t get the grant. If the government is going to attack local authorities over dereliction it needs to start allocating grants to the owners of these properties, whether it be a business or an individual.”

Cllr Ger Carthy. © Webservice Secured

The Cathaoirleach received the support of Fianna Fáil councillor Lisa McDonald who said the previous system, wherein county councils were instructed to collect a levy of 7pc of a property’s value for every year it remained vacant, was a “great idea on paper” but didn’t work in practise.

“This comes down to a lack of forward thinking, when the derelict sites levy was brought in there was never any thought given to how the county council was going to collect that money.”

However, Cllr Carthy wasn’t finished yet as he rounded upon Junior Housing Minister John Cummins for “arrogant”, “sickening” comments about local authorities.

“We’re hearing soundbites from central government but the dereliction continues,” he said. “Is the government going to provide us with the extra staff to deal with this? And is it going to change the stupid rules it brought in regarding the over the shop grants so that buildings can be brought back into use?”