> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.dublininquirer.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # A stronger definition of dereliction looks set to accompany the new 7 percent tax - URL: https://www.dublininquirer.com/a-stronger-definition-of-dereliction-looks-set-to-accompany-the-new-7-percent-tax/ - Published: 2026-10-16T00:23:47.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-16T00:23:47.000Z - Description: In the future, councils will consider whether a building is disused, boarded up, or damaged when deciding whether to add it to the Derelict Sites Register, says a tax policy document. - Author: Laoise Neylon - Tags: dereliction, vacancy, City Desk As Halloween rolls around again, a Dublin City Council-owned [vacant vampire-themed](https://www.dublininquirer.com/vacancy-watch-council-sits-on-disused-dracula-house-for-11-years-as-vacancy-sucks-the-lifeblood-of-the-city/) house in the north inner-city still haunts the neighbourhood. The three-storey red brick building on Buckingham Street Lower is disused and boarded up. Its brickwork and window frames are damaged, and green shoots creep out of the walls. Deep green ivy grows thick across most of the back of the house, and some of the windows. While boarded up and long-disused, 19 Buckingham Street Lower is not on the [Derelict Sites Register,](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28807689-derelict-sites-register-30092026-1/?ref=dublininquirer.com)the official naughty list of properties that have become so rundown they are subject to a levy each year and – for those that aren't already owned by it – at risk of compulsory purchase by the council. Currently, by law, a building or site is [derelict ](https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1990/act/14/enacted/en/print.html?ref=dublininquirer.com)if it “detracts, or is likely to detract, to a material degree from the amenity, character or appearance of land in the neighbourhood”. It's largely about what it looks like from the outside. But Dublin City Council officials and councillorshave been pushing for a [change to that definition](https://www.dublininquirer.com/to-tackle-dereliction-the-council-is-pushing-to-broaden-what-it-includes/), to encompass more vacant and disused properties. A recent Department of Finance [report on tax policy changes](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28807705-20261012-budget-2027-tax-policy-changes-book/?ref=dublininquirer.com)to be made as part of Budget 2027 suggested that what is considered legally derelict could be set to broaden, taking into account whether a property is in use. Indeed, "properties will be identified as derelict if the Local Authority considers it is not in use, and is not suitable for use, as a dwelling, commercial, social or community facility", the primer said. In assessing if it is not in use, a local authority "will consider factors including but not limited to: whether the property is partially or fully boarded up, the roof is damaged to the extent it is no longer weatherproof, or the property has failing plasterwork or unsecure brickwork". A Department of Finance spokesperson confirmed by email on 8 October that there's a broadening of the legal definition of dereliction in the works, beyond the visual. "When determining whether a property is derelict, local authorities will consider firstly whether the property is in use and then, whether it is suitable for use," she said. The Finance (No. 2) Bill 2026, when published, will provide more detail, she said. Under the proposed new definition, as sketched out so far,19 Buckingham Street Lower would likely be added to the list. “It sounds like a good idea,” says Róisín Murphy, conservation architect and campaigner on dereliction, of the new definition. She hopes the new tax will apply to large vacant sites in the city centre held by developers too, she says. But the Department of Finance report suggest that won't be the case. One option for owners looking to avoid liability is "the demolition and clearing of any derelict structure or building", it says. If zoned for residential, though, that may open it up to the liability for the Residential Zoned Land Tax, instead. But that's only [3 percent a year](https://www.revenue.ie/en/property/rzlt/index.aspx?ref=dublininquirer.com#:~:text=RZLT%20is%20a%20self%2Dassessed%20annual,value%20of%20the%20relevant%20site.), rather than the Derelict Property Tax's 7 percent a year. The exact wording of the legislation will be important, especially around exemptions. The report on coming tax policy changes also says owners will be able to avoid liability for the Derelict Property Tax "through remediation" – but it's unclear what "remediation" might meanin this context. ## What is the problem? For years, residents in Connaught Street in Phibsborough campaigned to get the council to buy and redevelop [two disused houses on the street](https://www.dublininquirer.com/is-a-bad-definition-of-derelict-partly-behind-the-bad-dereliction-in-dublin/). The two homes on Connaught Street were put on the city’s Derelict Sites Register – an early step towards a compulsory purchase order (CPO) – in 2009\. But the then-owner fixed up how they looked on the outside, so the council removed them from the register in 2012\. They didn’t go back on the register until 2018. The council finally bought the houses in 2019 but then found it was too expensive to redevelop them. Seventeen years after they were first placed on the Derelict Sites Register, the two houses are still derelict. At [Kirwan Cottages in Stoneybatter](https://www.dublininquirer.com/vacancy-watch-two-stoneybatter-homes-have-been-sitting-vacant-for-years-despite-council-threats-to-cpo-them/), residents have spoken of a similar to-ing and fro-ing. An owner did some work to the two long-term disused homes, and the council took them off the register. The Vacant Homes Tax also only applies to homes that are habitable. So these disused properties, though were residential, were not subject to any tax once they were rendered "non-derelict". At a meeting of the council’s planning committee in April, Darach O'Connor, a council executive manager, said that [the council is constrained by the narrow definition in law](https://www.dublininquirer.com/is-a-bad-definition-of-derelict-partly-behind-the-bad-dereliction-in-dublin/) of what is derelict. Earlier this month, councillors on the planning committee agreed to a motion tabled by Green Party Councillor Feljin Jose to call on the Minister for Housing to [redefine derelict as long-term uninhabitable](https://www.dublininquirer.com/to-tackle-dereliction-the-council-is-pushing-to-broaden-what-it-includes/). He said dereliction should cover "long-term vacancy, prolonged neglect, and persistent underuse". The council's deputy chief executive, Anthony Flynn, said the council had already submitted a detailed paper to the Department of Housing, that focused on the definition of dereliction – and in particular, the lack of a consideration of whether a building was vacant. He was unsure, he said, whether it would be taken on board. ## The new Derelict Property Tax The new definition of dereliction as laid out by the Department of Finance's report could bring more sites onto the Derelict Sites Register, say councillors. “It tackles some of the issues we face,” says Jose, the Green Party councillor. “It would be a big step forward if its implemented.” He looks forward to seeing the exact wording in the legislation, he says. That's supposed to be coming as part of the Finance (No. 2) Bill 2026. The report says that properties on the register – which is still to be managed by the council – would be liable for a new Derelict Property Tax of at least 7 percent of the property’s market value, which will be collected by the Revenue Commissioners starting in 2028\. And there is also the potential for future increases, it says. “Councils will need to be very proactive to get properties on the register,” says Jose, because the council will need to give property owners time to appeal before the tax kicks in, in 2028\. It is not clear whether under the new definition whetherwhat happened in Connaught Street and Kirwan Cottages could arise again. Property owners who “remediate properties within a reasonable time frame may seek abatement of the tax", says the report. “This can be achieved through remediation, the demolition and clearing of any derelict structure or building, or through the sale of the property to an owner who will subsequently address the dereliction,” it says. ## The Derelict Sites Register The definition of dereliction isn’t the only reason why some obviously derelict sites in the city are not on the Derelict Sites Register. Sometimes the council has padded along, softly, softly for its own reasons. It painted murals on the site of the former [Ormond Hotel on Ormond Quay](https://www.dublininquirer.com/vacancy-watch-why-isnt-the-site-of-the-former-ormond-hotel-on-the-derelict-sites-register/), disused since 2018, but didn’t put that site on the register. A council spokesperson said had they believed that the owners intended to build on it. Recently council officials told Janet Horner, the Green Party councillor, that there is still no long-term plan to redevelop 19 Buckingham Street. But a different council department has a budget for street art and plans to paint new murals on it, she says. “This is how the council works,” says Horner. Limerick City and County Council has been much more proactive in adding buildings to its Derelict Sites Register than Dublin City Council, she says. In other cases, homes have [continued to crumble](https://www.dublininquirer.com/vacancy-watch-while-neighbours-sounded-the-alarm-a-19th-century-villa-in-sandymount-slid-into-dereliction/) after being placed on the register, including a red-brick period home in a residential conservation area in Sandymount. Cian Farrell, a Social Democrats councillor, says that early next year the council will start to sell off the disused and derelict properties it owns, which it cannot afford to redevelop itself. It hasn’t been CPO-ing derelict properties lately because it didn’t have the funding to redevelop them, he says. “There was a view at the time that if we can’t do up the ones we have bought, how can we buy more?” So now councillors have agreed to sell those they cannot develop. Once it starts doing that, it should re-start compulsory purchases, he says. “I’m still of the view that if they are not moving, we should acquire them.” A new special purpose vehicle for the regeneration of the city centre – set to be incorporated by the end of this year if councillors agree to it – should help the council in tackling dereliction too. “The special purpose vehicle will be significant,” he says. One big problem though, says Murphy, the architect, is large vacant disused sites in the heart of the city, for example on O’Connell Street, which should be built on. “That’s a whole part of the city that should be developed,” she says. Will the changes affect those owners? “Does it mop up that issue with those big sites that are long-term derelict?”