Use empty courthouses and lockhouses in Kildare for housing

Above: Kildare Town courthouse

Vacant state properties across Co Kildare could be converted into accommodation for housing, Sinn Fein claimed.

Research has shown that the Government owns buildings and sites that have been unused – in some cases for more than 30 years.

There are dozens of empty Garda Stations and courthouses across Ireland including two courthouses in Kildare Town and Kilcock.

The majority of the Garda stations were in use until 2012 or 2013, after which new policing plans from An Garda Síochána forced their closure.

Vacant maritime buildings include 19 lockhouses, mostly in Co Kildare, that have been described as “derelict”, in a “poor condition” or in a “fair condition”.

One lockhouse in Glenaree, Co Kildare, has been vacant since 1995.

Sinn Féin TD Peadar Tóibín recently raised this issue in the Dáil.

He said: “There’s no doubt that every organisation can’t have 100 per cent occupancy in its portfolio.

“However, given the fact that housing is the defining crisis of our time, it’s absolutely shocking that the State itself has so many unoccupied buildings and unoccupied land, some of that in very useful locations.”