A Green councillor has queried whether consultants working on investigating derelict sites have added any sites to the Derelict Sites Register.
Cllr Niall Murphy raised the issue at Monday's meeting of the Galway City Council during a discussion of the 'Housing for All' policy.
'Disappointing'
Cllr Murphy wants derelict properties to come back into use as housing. "Identifying derelict sites is the first step in the important process of ensuring that as many derelict sites as possible are returned to use," Cllr Murphy says.
"If someone is aware of a derelict site it can be reported to the environment department of the city council at [email protected] or 091 536400
“Galway should be using all means at their disposal to ensure that vacant or derelict properties come back into use as housing. It is disappointing that Galway city, like many other local authorities, struggled to make the vacant site tax effective.
"This tax should have motivated owners to bring the property back into use, but it has proven difficult to administer. In two years it will be replaced by the Zoned Land Tax, which will be collected by the revenue rather than the local authority."
Repair and lease scheme
Cllr Murphy highlights a repair and lease scheme as one solution."There are other tools available to the city council to help bring vacant or derelict property back into use," he adds.
"The repair and lease scheme provides finance for a landlord to repair a property and in return the landlord commits to leasing it back to the council for use as social housing," he said, "Some local authorities, such as Waterford, have been very successful with this scheme, but property owners in Galway have not chosen this option. We should explore whether this scheme could be made more attractive.
He concluded: "At a national level I would like to see the scheme changed. Currently it is used to repair houses for use as social housing. I would like to see this expanded to allow for private rental."
