COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, November 14, 2022

QUESTION NO. 30

QUESTION: Councillor Lyn Hagin Meade

To ask if SDCC can cross reference the most recent Census data to locate both public and private potential vacant homes?

REPLY:

While the specific number of vacant homes recorded by County during Census 2022 is not yet available, in the previous census in 2016, South Dublin County had the lowest vacancy rate in the country.  However, it should be noted that a dwelling is classed as vacant by census enumerators if it is unoccupied on the night of the census, is not used as a holiday home and is not usually inhabited by occupants who are temporarily absent at the time of census.  Therefore, the census definition of a vacant dwelling is a point in time indicator taken on a specific date as to whether the property was inhabited or not on that date.  Census vacancy is not a measure of long-term vacancy or should not necessarily be compared directly with vacancy figures produced by other sources which may use different definitions or methodologies.  It also understood that the Central Statistics Office (CSO) use the information they collect for statistical purposes only and are forbidden by law to give information about individual people or dwellings to any other organisation, the government or any third party. 

Through our Vacant Homes Officer, the Council maintains a register of potentially vacant privately-owned homes that are monitored and investigated on an ongoing basis to assess the potential to use the various support schemes available to bring such properties back in to productive use while potentially vacant homes within the Council's own housing stock are investigated by housing officers as required and our maintenance team maintain a database of all currently vacant homes within our stock also.

Any potentially vacant homes can be reported through https://vacanthomes.ie/.