There are more than 1,300 vacant housing units in Sligo, the most in the country, which could be brought back into use.
The Heritage Council of Ireland are calling on the government to extend a tax incentive which would help landlords and property owners.
More than 10,000 homes in large provincial towns could be brought back into use by extending a tax incentive already in place in our cities.
The Living City initiative, currently confined to parts of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Kilkenny, should be extended to help revitalise large towns and deliver homes for families and workers, the Heritage Council has said.
The Living City Initiative gives tax breaks to owners or landlords to refurbish vacant units, paid over seven years.
Using Census 2016 data from the Central Statistics Office, the council’s heritage officer Colm Murray found there were more than 10,000 vacant units – not used as holiday homes – in 17 large provincial towns, many close to large centres of employment.
The largest number is in Sligo where there are 1,365 vacant unites followed by Tralee with 820.
There are 1,215 in Mayo, 600 in Castlebar and 615 in Ballina while Ballinasloe in Galway has 377.
Colm Murray is the heritage council’s architecture officer and he says Sligo is a place people can come to live.
