174 vacant buildings identified in Birr Municipal District

THE May meeting of Birr MD was told that there is a very high number of vacant buildings in South and West Offaly, many of which have been investigated by the Council.
The Town Regeneration Officer Olwen Cummins told the meeting that there are 21 vacant dwellings in Shinrone, five of which are derelict. One of the buildings is currently being CPOd. All five derelict buildings are on the Derelict Sites Register.
The Council's Vacant Homes Officer has surveyed 856 vacant homes in Offaly, 395 of which are now labelled as being either vacant or derelict. There are 174 vacant dwellings in Birr MD and 78 are in Birr Town. Of the 174 vacant dwellings, 26 are derelict. 186 applications have been received from members of the Offaly public since the beginning of the Vacant Homes Refurbishment Grant.
Cllr Peter Ormond said the CPOd building in Shinrone is “old Canon Hannon's house; it took two years to get to the CPO stage with that house. No owners have yet come forward in relation to the five derelict sites. We need to speed up the process of tackling the significant vacant dwelling problem in the county; because there are so many people looking for houses and there's a big number of vacant dwellings in the county. The process is too long. 18 months is the shortest time to get through the CPO process. It can cost €10,000 to undertake it.” Ms Cummins said “Derelict” means “visually obtrusive”; whereas “Vacant” dwellings look ok but but no one is living in them.