Dublin councils struggling to chase vacant site owners for levy

Under pressure from the housing department, the three local authorities blamed Covid-19 for the delay

Dublin City Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and South Dublin County Council confirmed that no sites were added to their respective vacant site registers last year

No properties were added to the vacant site registers in three of Dublin’s local authorities last year despite pressure from the Department of Housing.

The vacant site levy was introduced in 2017 to encourage owners of idle land which could be used for housing to either develop or sell their property. It commenced as a 3 per cent penalty on the value of the land, due at the beginning of each year, and rose to ...