Concerns have been raised over the number of unregistered vacant properties in Dublin after the council's register revealed only 27 sites on the register.

Dublin City Council's Derelict Sites Register aims to regenerate sites no longer in use and put them back on the market.

Fianna Fáil General Election Candidate in Dublin Central, Mary Fitzpatrick, hit out at the figures.

She said: "There are more than 4,500 vacant properties in our area but less than 30 have been declared on the derelict sites register. I am very proud to have been brought up in the North Inner City and equally proud to still reside there but there is an abundance of untapped potential.

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"The level of disadvantage experienced in our locality by those desperate for affordable housing while thousands of units lie idle in a derelict state unsettles very many.

"The Government's much-heralded vacant site levy can only have a positive impact on the housing crisis if the State takes a greater role in supporting DCC to declare more vacant sites on the register.

"What's more, the capital generated by the vacant site levy in the area should be ring-fenced and re-invested in locally. Property owners should be encouraged to regenerate their properties and put them into productive use through tax breaks."

(CM/MH)