No Tax Breaks for Vacant Landlords

Louth County Council is considering cutting rates on empty properties for 2026. Working class people will still have to pay rates on their homes. Councillors have defended this proposal by stating that this would aid vacant property owners to more easily find residents.

This is a grossly naive view of the situation with property across not just our county, but the entire country. Those who own vacant properties that have been left empty long term should not be rewarded for that, particularly when ordinary working people are struggling to get by. Property hoarders & vulture funds should be penalised, and forced to either put the vacant buildings into use or face harsher financial sanctions.

A 2023 report into property vacancy by Louth Council surveyed 1599 properties and found at least 832 as either vacant or derelict across the county. Those buildings should be used, not left empty. Many of those buildings could be used for homes. 

Louth Council was granted €7 Million fund to Compulsory Purchase Order vacant and derelict properties in Louth. This funding has been completely unused for 2 years in a row. This fund should be put to work immediately to take properties from their feckless owners and provide social housing to working families. People Before Profit councillors in Dublin have successfully forced the purchase of empty houses in places like Palmerstown, the same would be possible in Louth.

Most councils in Ireland, including Louth’s haven’t collected a single penny from the Derelict Sites Levy in 2 years. That’s €20.5m. A figure which would be much higher now, considering the push activists across the country have given councils into recent years to register these derelict sites. This figure could fund Derelict Sites departments around the country by itself.