Revenue threat having desired effect rejuvenating Mayo derelict properties

Castlebar is serving as a catalyst for redevelopment, with government grants and the looming threat of Revenue intervention proving to be the twin engines accelerating renewal in the county town at long last.

As The Connaught Telegraph has reported in recent weeks, a string of derelict and long-vacant properties in Castlebar are being brought back to life, the sight of scaffolding outside tired facades has been a major boost, with momentum beginning to spread beyond the county town to communities right across Mayo.

The carrot-and-stick approach appears to be working.

Generous renovation grants available through schemes such as the Croí Cónaithe fund have incentivised homeowners and developers to act, while the scrapping of the local authority collected Derelict Sites Tax, to the budget 2026 announced Derelict Property Tax (DPT) of at least 7% of market value, to be collected by the Revenue Commissioners, applying earnestly from next year, has concentrated minds among those who might otherwise have been content to let properties sit idle.

It is not solely about Castlebar. Ballina, Belmullet, Ballinrobe, Claremorris, Westport and other towns all play host to these sites. But anecdotal evidence is emerging that the policy framework is beginning to bite in the right places.

Towns that for years have carried the dead weight of boarded-up shopfronts and crumbling terraces are starting to see scaffolding and skips appear on footpaths.

It is, by any measure, a welcome development and one that has been a long time coming.

Even in the past week, five applications under the Compulsory Acquisition Derelict Sites Act have been submitted by Mayo County Council to An Bord Pleanála. They relate to four properties in Kilkelly and one at Convent Road in Ballinrobe.

The housing crisis has many dimensions, but the scandal of dereliction has always been among the most visible and the most frustrating.

Yet there remains one further tool available to the State that has attracted relatively little attention nationally, even as Mayo County Council has already moved to recommend its use.

Councillors, on a motion championed by Fine Gael’s Jarlath Munnelly, voted to support the use of Compulsory Sale Orders, a mechanism that would allow local authorities to force the sale of derelict properties where owners have refused to engage.

It would be significant, but would need legislative approval before it’s ever enacted here in Mayo. But a green light would prove that this government is not prepared to wait indefinitely for voluntary action where the grants have been ignored and the tax threat has failed to move delinquent owners.

The Compulsory Sale Order is, in effect, the government's last card from its war on dereliction and it is right that it exists.

Where persuasion fails and financial incentive falls short, the community's need for housing must ultimately take precedence over an individual's right to let a building rot.

If the combination of Croí Cónaithe grants, the Derelict Property Tax and, where necessary, Compulsory Sale Orders can together unlock even a fraction of Mayo's estimated vacant and derelict stock, the impact on housing supply and on the character of our towns could be transformative.