More than €6.5m owed to Cork City Council in unpaid derelict site levies

Cork City Council collected just €406,182 in derelict site levies last year, just 20% of the more than €2m levied by the authority in 2025.

Since 2020, the council has sought more than €8m through the tax. The levy sees the council identify sites that are derelict, and it charges owners levies to incentivise development. Just over €2m of this, or 25%, has been paid.

In total, more than €7m is owed to the council in historical unpaid levies — including those due prior to 2020.

Under legislation, a “derelict site” is defined as “any land which detracts” from the amenity, character, or appearance of the neighbourhood because of “ruinous, derelict, or dangerous” structures or “the neglected, unsightly, or objectionable condition of the land”.

It has further emerged that one of the city’s most prominent vacant sites has not resulted in any levies paid to the authority.

At the most recent council meeting, Cork City Council confirmed that it has not levied any derelict site taxes on the site of the former tax office on Sullivan’s Quay. The site was bought by BAM 20 years ago, and the former Revenue building was demolished in 2018.

Hoarding

The site, which has been surrounded by hoarding since the building was demolished in 2018, has been described for several years by many as an eyesore.

BAM lodged an application for a 503-bed purpose-built student accommodation development ranging in height from five to 11 storeys, last month, some two decades after buying it from the Revenue Commissioners when they moved to new premises in Blackpool.

The company subsequently sought permission for a 183-bed hotel, which was never built, and 10 years later, they were given permission for a 193-bed hotel, which also failed to go ahead.

Sinn Féin’s Fiona Kerrins asked at the council meeting if BAM Construction was paying the derelict site levy.

Niall O’Donnabhain, the council’s director of planning and integrated development, said that the site “is not on the derelict sites register and therefore is not incurring the derelict sites levy”.

He added that it has been identified as a site qualifying for residential zoned land tax (RZLT), a scheme introduced by the Finance Act 2021, and that the council had progressed its placement on the relevant maps.

The scheme is administered and operated by the Revenue Commissioners, and the first date for liability was just over a year ago.

Surprised

Ms Kerrins queried why levies had not been imposed, saying: “I was surprised to see it wasn’t on the register, given how long it’s been empty and lying idle.”

Mr O’Donnabhain said: “The property that was on the site was demolished, and there was a live planning application in place for a significant time, as a result it was declared a vacant site and decided that the RZLT was the most suitable.”

“Another planning application is now being progressed on the site, so efforts are being made to deal with this site, and in the longer term we are hoping to achieve the removal of dereliction,” he added.

The current planning application for student accommodation, which has been criticised by public representatives over the high cost of the city’s current purpose-built student accommodation, is due to be decided by April 1 this year.

A council spokesperson told The Echo: “Despite the complexity of addressing dereliction, nearly 600 properties in Cork city have been returned to use since 2023 — with half of those returned to use last year alone.

“The number of properties returning to use has shifted from dozens to hundreds per year — jumping from 57 in 2023, to 231 in 2024, and to 301 last year.”