Dublin City Council is being urged to take more action on vacant sites in the city.

The Green Party made the call after a new law requiring planning authorities to establish a Vacant Sites Register comes into effect.

However, while Dublin City Council and other Planning Authorities have published a register on 01 January, they contain no entries.

The Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015 was set up to tackle renewal and prevent housing lands lying idle or remaining vacant. It requires Planning Authorities such as Dublin City Council to establish a register of vacant sites and provides for a 3% levy on such sites from 2019 if they are not developed.

Green Party Councillor Ciarán Cuffe said: "Publishing a register with no entries runs the risk of making us look ridiculous. The Vacant Sites Register published online by Dublin City Council contains no entries and sends out the wrong message that we appear not to take the issue of underused lands seriously.

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"I wrote to Dublin City's Chief Executive Owen Keegan requesting that he place sites on the Register as soon as possible. We have known for over a year that this law came into effect on 1st January 2017, and we should have been better prepared. To most people it looks like we're complying with the letter, but not the spirit of the law. Placing sites onto the Register at an early stage would concentrate the minds of owners into developing these lands and will send a clear signal that Dublin City Council is minded to tackle vacancy as soon as possible.

"The Act itself also needs to be amended to include smaller sites that won't be included as they full under the threshold of 500 sq. m. in area. Such sites are large enough to include several vacant buildings or significant lands and could contribute to tackling the housing crisis. The Act should be amended downwards to include lands of 100 sq. m. Such sites are common in the city and significantly contribute to the poor appearance of many neighbourhoods."

(CD/LM)