Ireland is falling way behind its European counterparts in addressing derelict buildings that could help to solve the housing crisis, an Irish Mirror special investigation has found.
The levels of vacant buildings across the country are reaching up to 31% of available buildings in some areas of Ireland, and advocates for change are calling on the Government to make addressing the issue a priority.
The Central Statistics Office reported that the latest number of vacant apartments and homes in Ireland stands at 166.500.
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Ciarán Cuffe MEP believes that the Government need to do more to address the issue of vacant and derelict buildings.
"Most of the empty buildings in Dublin's inner city could be used for housing," Cuffe said.
"Some may be more appropriate for cultural uses or businesses, but it makes no sense to have buildings empty for years. if not decades, within the canals of Dublin."
We met Cuffe on Infirmary Road in Dublin's north inner city, in front of a derelict building previously used by the Defence Forces.
Its facade boarded up, it is a monument to indifference that many in the city will be familiar with, as it is by no stretch the only building of its type in Dublin, or other Irish towns and cities.
"Dublin City Council has plans for new homes to the left of the red-brick building behind me, there are no plans for the building itself.
"I think that building could be used for housing, or as a cultural hub - it could be and should be imaginatively used for new purposes."
Cuffe believes that strict regulation of deed-holders will begin to address an issue that is not just known to Dublin.
"The problem is not about zoning or planning but about making sure the owners of these buildings do something with them.
"The [Defence Forces building] has been empty for decades, it is now owned by Dublin City Council. There are other buildings I can see to my left that have been empty for the last decade.
"We need to change our laws so there is much more of an obligation on building owners to reuse the buildings or to sell them on."
Alison Harvey of Heritage Council’s CTCHC Programme believes that Ireland needs to look to the example set by its European neighbours and address the issue through policy changes.
"If you look at Denmark or the Netherlands, they are very strong in terms of their building stock, knowing what they have, what they should do with and the cost implications and options.
"That is something that we need to set up in Ireland, that rich system where we can reduce vacancies.
"We did some research in 2019, looking at various countries - France, Denmark, Scotland, Holland - and what the French were saying was that vacancy is an indicator of systemic failure.
"If you go by that premise, our vacancy levels are very high in our town centres, much higher than other EU member states'', Ms Harvey said.
Ms Harvey believes that approaches including compulsory sales of vacant buildings would work to drive down the rates of vacancy.
"It is interesting to hear what other EU member states have introduced. Some are looking at compulsory sale orders where if you have a building that is vacant for two years or more then a CSO is put on a building and the owner must sell it.
"There are compulsory lease orders. What the French are pointing out is that you shouldn't have vacancy.
"Ground floor vacancy rate is hitting 31% (accepted norm in Europe is 5%) and upper floors in Irish town centres..
According to Heritage Council, ground floor vacancy rate is hitting 31% (accepted norm in Europe is 5%) and upper floors in Irish town centres is circa.
"When you talk to our international colleagues, Denmark were saying they were at 12%. I asked them what they did, and they said they brought in really strict urban policy, consolidated their town centres so that there was no more out of town development.
"The Danish said that once they introduced the policy then they were able to bring their rate down to 5%. If we're at 24% - and I have one town in the programme at 31% - our vacancy figures are out of kilter with our European counterparts.
"We have got to look to Europe for the processes and targets. We need vacancy targets and they don't exist at the moment. If there is one key thing that I would introduce, it would be that."
Cuffe concurs that Ireland can look to still further countries to take policy approaches on dereliction.
"Some parts of Italy have done great work in imaginatively reusing older buildings and putting penalties on the owners if they don't move.
"In Germany, there is a good system whereby buildings can be given to a group to be used for an interim period for uses that might last a year or five years while plans are being formulated for long term use.
"They have a process called 'guardianship' where those buildings are used in the meantime until a long-term use is generated.
"Here in Ireland it seems we just leave buildings empty for many, many years. We have got to encourage the faster reuse of such buildings."
Cork
Frank O'Connor and Jude Sherry are urban designers who moved from Amsterdam to Cork four years ago, and they are campaigning against dereliction in Ireland, mainly in Cork.
The couple told the Irish Mirror: "This could change really, really quickly. The 700 properties we identified in Cork, and others across Ireland, so many of those properties could come back into use.
"If we take even 25% - 50% of the 160,000 across the country came back into use - what a difference it would make.
"We are coming up to the highest homeless levels ever in Ireland - well over 10,000 - those could be homes."
"We have so many people who really need this. Families that are in terrible conditions at the moment. It is something that we believe in so strongly but it needs that political will.
"Up to now, we think that it has not been considered a vote winner so politicians have not been willing to make that step. Ultimately, we have never been in a situation where we have needed these homes more.
"No one has ever justified it to us - we have never had anyone make the case to us for dereliction. We have had a lot of people criticising us saying 'it's nuanced, complicated, you don't understand.'
"But it is not that complicated. If you have these buildings, if you have these homes in your cities and towns then they should be used. Otherwise, it is just pure and utter waste."
Dublin Advocate
Gareth Murray is another anti vacancy activist who's documenting and trying to educate people about home vacancy.
"You walk around the city that you are born in, the city that you love - you see half of it virtually falling down.
"The people who own these buildings are not answerable to anyone. They can just let these buildings sit and rot for their own, selfish ends.
"It spurred me on to create the campaign to find out who these people are."
"It would make huge strides towards solving the housing crisis if the State did compulsorily purchase these buildings and turned them into homes or community facilities.
"Even if you look around Dublin and other cities, it might look busy because you might have businesses on the ground floor. But when you go to storeys higher up, these buildings are half vacant.
"I think that has to be part of the conversation, about how to we actually allow people to live in the city centre again. How do we make a community, where a community once was, that doesn't exist any more?"
Cork
Back to the couple in the Cork who said: "What they do is that the owners say to the council that they have this space, and that it is going to be a year or two before they are able to develop it.
"[Then they ask] 'can you bring in artists, creatives, low-income families into this space to make sure that they are used?'
"What that does is reduce the costs for the owner but also brings people into an area which otherwise would have been empty, and makes cities much safer when spaces are being used."
A spokesperson from the Department of Housing told Irish Mirror that the government outlines a suite of measures aimed at addressing Vacancy in a coordinated, robust, manner.
There's a programme to help Local Authorities buy or compulsory purchase 2,500 vacant homes in their areas which can then be sold on the open market will ensure homes don’t lie vacant.
Reform of the Fair Deal Scheme to remove disincentives to selling or renting unused homes.
A new Town Centre First policy was launched on 4 February 2022. It's a major new policy that aims to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and breathe new life into the town centres.
''These measures are in addition to the vacant property tax being considered by the Department of Finance,' the DOH spokesperson said.
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