Sinn Féin's spokesperson on Urban Regeneration and Renewal, Planning, Public Realm and Local Government, Thomas Gould TD, has demanded that the government publish the 2024 data on the Derelict Sites Levy, accusing it of deliberately stalling its release.

Speaking in the Dáil, Teachta Gould criticised the ongoing delay, noting that the figures are typically made available by March or April each year. With the data still unpublished in July, he raised concerns over transparency and accountability.

He said: "I asked the Minister for State in the Dáil to publish the data on the Derelict Sites Levy. This is normally provided by the department in March or April each year. It is now July and we still do not have the data.

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"The reality is that we know this is going to show millions owed to local authorities by those allowing homes and buildings to rot in our cities, towns and villages. It is going to show even more potential levies not applied and a complete failure to actually tackle dereliction.

"People are sick of watching buildings fall apart while families are forced into homelessness, the government knows this. They also know that publishing this data while the Dáil is sitting will force them to answer questions on their supposed CPO Activation Programme, on their failure to properly resource local authorities and on their support for speculators that want to leave buildings rot in the midst of a housing emergency.

"Rather than taking action on any of these issues, government has chosen to bury their head in the sand and delay publishing these figures.

"Government received the responses from the local authorities in Q1. I am calling on them now to publish the data they have, to allow the Dáil to discuss this and to take action to tackle the plague of dereliction."