2026-01-22

The former Shannon Oaks Hotel in Portumna has been lying in a dangerous and derelict state for 15 years. I have raised this matter a number of times. The local community has been promised repeatedly that the site will be secured and the hotel redeveloped. The closure of the hotel has been a huge loss to Portumna, an area with serious tourism potential but a lack of tourist accommodation. Efforts have been made to engage with the owners of the hotel, the Comer brothers, with a view to having the hotel reopened. They have not been successful. The planning permission for the redevelopment of the hotel has now lapsed, confirming that, as it stands, the owners still do not have any intention of redeveloping the hotel. All the while, the building lies empty, idle and in a derelict condition. The hoarding around the site is regularly breached. We know that people are entering the site. There have been videos taken from within the building. They show it in a dangerous condition and a state of total disrepair. The people who enter the site are trespassing but the reality is that derelict sites will attract curiosity, from young people especially. They attract antisocial behaviour and there is a serious risk of somebody being hurt, not to mention the fact that the building is a serious eyesore. It really detracts from the appearance of the village. Portumna is a fantastic town and one that is very popular with tourists. It has a lot to offer but this takes away from that. The site was previously on the derelict sites register. It is no longer on it. Galway County Council's position is that the site does not meet the definition of "derelict" within the Derelict Sites Act because it has hoarding all the way around it most of the time. This building does not have a roof on most of the structure. I want clarity from the Government on this. If a site has hoarding erected around it, does that automatically mean it is not classified as derelict? That has been the position of Galway County Council. I ask the Minister of State to clarify that in his response. At the same time, we have Coillte developing proposals for Portumna Forest Park, which borders the site of the Shannon Oaks Hotel. A survey carried out by a local community group showed clear opposition to the idea of building tourist accommodation in the forest park. The group believes the Shannon Oaks Hotel should be the focus of development of tourist accommodation with the locality. I again call on Coillte to engage meaningfully with the local community in relation to its proposals for the forest park. I call on the Government to support that call also. How can the owners of this hotel, the Comer brothers, be allowed to leave this hotel, which is an eyesore and a safety hazard, in this condition indefinitely and will they be held accountable?

I remind the Deputy not to name people in the Chamber.

They are the owners of the hotel.

I thank Deputy O'Hara for raising this important matter and providing me with an opportunity to update the House on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy James Browne. It is important to point out that under section 30 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, the Minister with responsibility for planning is precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to any particular case with which a planning authority or An Coimisiún Pleanála is, or may be, concerned. In addition, in accordance with section 63(3) of the Local Government Act 2001, local authorities are independent in the performance of their functions. However, the Government recognises the importance of tackling vacancy and dereliction. I assure the Deputy that the Government is committed to addressing these issues through a range of measures and with the support of all key stakeholders, including local authorities. These measures include the provision of vacant homes officers and town regeneration officers in local authorities, the implementation of the vacant homes action plan and related resourcing and funding supports. This funding includes call 3 of the urban regeneration and development fund, which provides a €150 million revolving fund for local authorities to acquire vacant or derelict properties and sites for reuse or sale. The fund is replenished from the proceeds received from the sale or reuse of properties, allowing a rolling fund for each local authority to tackle vacancy and dereliction. In addition, the vacant property refurbishment grant provides up to €70,000 in grant support to bring derelict properties back into long-term use as homes. In December, the Minister, Deputy Browne, announced a new enhanced support package of up to €140,000 to bring vacant above-the-shop properties in our cities, towns and villages into use as homes, which will be made available in quarter 1 of this year. This grant may be used in combination with exemptions from the requirement for planning permission for the conversion of certain types of vacant commercial property into residential use, such as living-over-the-shop accommodation, up to a maximum of nine residential units. The Government also amended the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 to include an exemption for the change of use of vacant commercial buildings, including vacant pubs. This exemption has now been extended to the end of 2028. Up to the end of 2024, local authorities received 1,457 notifications from developers intending to avail of the exemptions. If acted on, this would result in 3,429 new homes across the country. A compulsory purchase order, CPO, activation programme was also launched by the Department of housing in April 2023. The programme supports a proactive and systematic approach by local authorities to the reuse of vacant and derelict properties. It also includes guidance for local authorities to actively use their legislative powers, including under the Derelict Sites Act, to acquire vacant and derelict properties and to use CPO powers where engagement with owners has been unsuccessful. The activation programme works in tandem with URDF call 3. Under the CPO activation programme, targets are set, with local authorities required to identify vacant and derelict properties and record activity and outcomes. I would also like to highlight THRIVE, the town centre first heritage revival scheme, which represents a transformative opportunity for our towns and communities. THRIVE is a €120 million Government initiative, co-funded by the European Union and delivered through our regional assemblies in partnership with my own Department. THRIVE provides funding for the preparation of Town Centre First, a co-ordinated, whole-of-government policy framework to proactively address the decline in the health of towns across Ireland and support measures to regenerate and revitalise them. Key elements of the Town Centre First approach are collaborative and plan-led through Town Centre First plans setting out a vision and priority projects, and delivery focused through a town regeneration officers and integrated with national and local government oversight agencies. The package of measures introduced within my Department represents a decisive and co-ordinated response to dereliction across Ireland.

I appreciate the response, but from what the Minister of State has outlined, if we are talking about CPO, would the Government provide the support to Galway County Council for what is presumably a very expensive building to be able to acquire that and, at a minimum, make the site safe? The planning permission on this has lapsed. The developers have no intention of redeveloping this hotel. It has been left in a derelict state for 15 years. It is an eyesore and a safety hazard. Young children are going in and out. Somebody has to take responsibility for this. It cannot be allowed to continue. I have raised this a number of times in this Chamber. It is not a new issue. I have raised it with the Tánaiste and the Minister for Finance. Government is well aware of this issue and the impact it is having on the town of Portumna. I cannot stress enough how dangerous it is and the risk of somebody getting hurt or losing their life. I do not want to hear more excuses or more kicking the can down the road. It is a problem that is not being addressed. I want to know what the Minister if State is going to do now to ensure that the owners of this property are actually held accountable and that the building is at the very least made safe. To go back to my earlier question in terms of the hoarding around the building, does that mean this site automatically cannot be on the derelict sites register because there is not hoarding around the building? There is hoarding around the building. I ask the Minister of State to clarify that. The owners of the hotel - the Comer brothers - are very wealthy people. They could redevelop the site. At the very minimum, they could take action to make it safe. They can afford it. There is absolutely no doubt about that. Therefore, the issue here is one of accountability. Is the Government going to take action and hold them accountable for leaving this site in a dangerous and derelict condition for the last 15 years? Will the Government give a commitment that it will support the local authority to CPO the property, if necessary, and make the site safe again?

Once again, I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue and giving me the opportunity to give an update on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Browne. As I previously stated, under section 30 of the Planning and Development Act, the Minister with responsibility for planning is precluded from exercising any power of control in relation to a particular case with which the planning authority, An Coimisiún Pleanála, is or may be concerned. In addition, in accordance with section 63 of the Local Government Act, local authorities are independent in the performance of their duties. As I said previously, the Government is committed to tackling vacancy and dereliction. I assure the Deputy that it is committed to this through a range of measures and with the support of all key stakeholders, including local authorities. By strengthening compulsory purchase powers, activating the derelict sites levy and the proposed introduction of the derelict property tax alongside providing targeted funds and supports for regeneration through local authorities, we are shifting from isolated interventions to a whole-of-government approach. Crucially, these measures are designed not only to incentivise action but to ensure accountability. Furthermore, the new recently published national housing action plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities, builds on existing measures and programmes to tackle dereliction. Other specific actions beyond the derelict property tax announced in the budget include the provision of a digital national derelict sites register, an increased number of properties on the derelict sites register, increased compulsory acquisition of properties where owners have failed to engage with local authorities and increased collection of unpaid derelict sites. I will ask the Department to seek an update on the point the Deputy raised. Obviously, the councils are independent in the way they function in this area, but I will ask the Department of housing to seek an update from Galway County Council on this particular issue.