The long-running saga over the future of the former Central Hotel building in Mallow has been cited in the Dáil as a prime example of why urgent changes are needed to the 1990 Derelict Sites act.
The issue was raised on the floor of the house by Cork East Labour TD Seán Sherlock, in a motion calling for the act to be amended to give local authorities power to claim back expenses incurred in making buildings that have been empty for long periods of time safe. It called for the introduction of a Bill amending the 1990 Act to "give security to local authorities, by way of creating a charge on the land concerned, in relation to the expenses incurred by the local authority in order to give effect to measures which the local authority considers to be necessary in order to prevent the land from becoming, or continuing to be, a derelict site".