Ireland’s Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys, recently announced that more than €27 million in funding is to be used to combat dereliction and breathe new life in the country’s rural towns and villages.

The money represents the largest ever investment under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme.

Former banks, ballrooms, courthouses, convents, cinemas, Garda stations and FCA halls are to be regenerated for community use, while public plazas, town parks, playgrounds, community gardens and dog parks are to be developed.

Local shops enhanced

Local shops and businesses in 26 towns will have their shopfronts and building facades enhanced too.

The package announced by Minister Humphreys includes €6 million in funding to purchase and re-develop vacant and derelict buildings so they can be converted into community facilities.

Announcing the funding, Minister Humphreys said: “This is all about tackling the scourge of vacancy and dereliction in our rural towns and villages. It’s about taking old buildings and giving them a new lease of life.”

‘Breathe new life’ into rural towns

She added that the investment would breathe new life into rural towns and villages.

A further 29 projects are to benefit from funding under the Building Acquisition Measure (BAM). Under the initiative, local authorities were asked to engage with their local communities to identify suitable vacant or derelict properties that could be taken into public ownership and converted for community use.

Minister Humphries added that everyone was familiar with old buildings in their communities that had been eyesores for too long and that the BAM provided local authorities with the necessary resources to tackle vacancy and dereliction.

Planning and design

Funding has also been set aside for projects at the pre-development stage. This money is to support feasibility, planning and design works.

Progress reports on all the works included are to be published every six months.

Maeve Mullin, Finders Ireland’s director, said: “We’re delighted to hear that the Government of Ireland is so determined to tackle vacancies and dereliction. A number of homes in Ireland’s towns and villages lie empty because the owner cannot be identified.

“This often happens in cases where the original owner has died intestate and with no apparent next of kin. However, relatives can almost always be located, which is why we encourage solicitors and members of the public to take advantage of our tracing property owners’ service. We specialise in tracing beneficiaries to unclaimed property, land and assets as well as heirs to estates and funds.

“By identifying the relatives of the deceased owners of derelict properties means they can be sold, developed and reintroduced into the market.”