Wicklow Receives 363 Applications For Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant

Over 120 previously vacant and derelict properties have been restored to residential use across Wicklow through the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant

More than €7 million has been paid out in Wicklow under the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant since the scheme began in July 2022.

Figures from Wicklow County Council show 129 applications have been paid, to a total of €7,040,547.60. The council has received 363 applications in all, and 162 are currently approved. A further 72 have been withdrawn or rejected.

The Wicklow figures come as the Department of Housing published its national statistics for the third quarter of 2026.

They show 7,162 vacant and derelict properties have now been brought back into residential use under the scheme, backed by more than €396 million in grant funding.

Almost 20,000 applications have been received nationwide since the scheme launched in 2022, and more than 15,000 have been approved. Between July and September alone, the grant supported the refurbishment of 809 homes.

Wicklow’s share of the national total is small but steady. The county accounts for around 1.8 per cent of both the applications received and the properties paid out on. The average payment in Wicklow works out at roughly €54,600, close to the national average of around €55,000.

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne, said the milestone showed the scheme was delivering.

“The Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant is delivering real results right across the country, with more than 7,000 homes now brought back into use through the scheme. That represents thousands of families, homebuyers and renters who now have access to homes that may otherwise have remained vacant, while also helping to revitalise communities.”

The Department also reported growing interest in the Vacant Above the Shop Grant, which opened earlier this year. Thirty more applications were received in the third quarter, bringing the total to 78.

Property owners have until June of 2028 to carry out work before a new derelict property tax applies, initially in towns of over 4,000.

The rate of 7% is designed to push owners into bringing vacant, run-down buildings back into use. Councils must compile registers of derelict properties from January.

In Wicklow just two sites have been listed on county council’s latest register since 2022 nor reflecting the true scale of dereliction.

Ian Lumley of An Taisce has told East Coast FM that a derelict black spot has not been addressed in Co. Wicklow:

''No other town where there's such a length of derelict in a main street as Arklow. It extends from the little park in the middle of the main street, the old graveyard, all the way up to the raver line, past the courthouse. It includes a derelict cinema, a derelict ballroom, and a whole row of derelict buildings that are dragging down the whole image of Arklow. It's just very bad for other people trying to do business in the town and keep the town centre going.''

Ian Lumley of An Taisce says Wicklow county council is not acting with any urgency considering they will be compelled to for the tax to apply:

''The council is not acting with the speed that is needed to register these buildings. (0:05) Let's talk about, oh, we're engaging with the owners, or in some cases the property's in sale, (0:10) or there's a planning commission granted that isn't happening. (0:13) All of those are not excuses not to register.

(0:16) The whole idea of registration is that this then will allow the revenue commissioners to impose the levy, (0:22) and they can't do that until the local authority puts the registration in place to start with.''

Ian Lumley added that councils and owners have received guidance on how to do it viably, while keeping a rigorous planning system

''Universal access is a requirement for whole series of categories of new development, but it's not a requirement for refurbishing an existing building in a town or a village street, and in fact what the Government Department of Heritage and Planning has been doing. On the one hand we need a rigorous planning system to ensure that new development and refurbishment is of equality, but a lot has been done in terms of guidance to local authorities and to property owners as to how to viably bring buildings back to youth.''