Housing

Half of councils have no full-time roles for tackling vacancy

Paschal Donohoe, the Minister for Finance, confirmed this week that owners of vacant homes are facing a new tax in the Budget

Paschal Donohoe, Minister for Finance and Darragh O’Brien, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, at the site of a new development of social housing in O’Devaney Gardens in Dublin: Revenue data showed that people paying the local property tax own a total of 57,000 vacant homes. Picture: Colin Keegan

Almost half of Ireland’s local authorities still have no full-time role in place for tackling vacancy as the government prepares to introduce a new vacant homes tax as part of Budget 2023.

Following publication of the Department of Housing’s progress report into its Housing for All plan in January, it was revealed that 21 of the 65 targets to be completed by the end of 2021 had not been met, including the provision of full-time ...