Council urged to get tough on owners of derelict properties

Members of Castlebar Municipal District have called on the chief executive of Mayo County Council to intensify efforts to identify vacant and derelict properties within the county town.

Councillors also called on Kevin Kelly to make greater use of the council’s powers under the Derelict Sites Act 1990 to acquire such properties by compulsory purchase to support regeneration in the town.

Cllr Harry Barrett tabled the motion at the council's recent meeting, highlighting what he described as an unacceptable situation of vacant and derelict properties lying idle while families with children are living in emergency accommodation.

Statistics for May show that there were 198 adults and 75 children living in private emergency accommodation across Mayo.

“At the moment in this municipal district we have young children making their way into homeless accommodation in Knock and Charlestown,” Cllr Barrett said. “We have young couples with children living over bars in Castlebar, where music goes on late into the night, living in difficult circumstances in emergency accommodation. All the while we have quite a lot of derelict properties in Castlebar.” 

As of Tuesday, June 30, there were 308 properties identified on Mayo County Council’s Derelict Sites Register, 29 of which are located in Castlebar Town.

Cllr Barrett said he tabled the motion due to the fact that responsibility for collecting the derelict sites levy is being transferred to the Revenue Commissioners from January 2027. Levies already owed on derelict properties will not be the responsibility of Revenue to collect, this will remain with the local authority.

Cllr Barrett said now was the time for the council to intensify its efforts to identify vacant and derelict properties and ensure they are ready to be placed on the register when Revenue assumes responsibility for collecting the levy.

The process of placing a property on the Derelict Sites Register can take some time as it involves formal identification by the council, engagement with the owner, and a time-frame for repair works to be carried out before the property is added to the register if issues are not addressed.

Cllr Barrett said the core message of his motion was that where statutory processes have been exhausted, and engagement with owners has failed, greater use should be made of the council’s powers to acquire properties through compulsory purchase orders (CPOs).

The independent councillor also requested that a map be made available showing the movement of derelict properties on and off the register, noting that this is happening in other municipal districts.

“On Main Street, we have a property with no roof. Not too far from here, there is a property with half the roof missing. That is not acceptable,” he said. “Times up. If you are sitting on a derelict property in Castlebar, you are sitting on €200,000, at least.

“I want things to intensify. Revenue are ready to put the pressure on. We can identify more of these properties and clean up this town, this area and this county,” he added.

Cllr Michael Kilcoyne seconded the motion and raised concerns about what he saw as a “loophole” in the Derelict Sites Act.

“Someone can have a derelict site for 10 or 15 years, then they decide to get planning permission, and then they can wait another five years. The local authority shouldn’t be accepting that.

“There are huge derelict sites around the town. This is probably one of the worst towns in the county, I would say,” he stated.

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.