Near €4m rent arrears in Louth having 'significant impact' on council's budget

Rent arrears owed by council tenants is having a "significant impact" on Louth County Council's budget according to Dundalk councillor Emma Coffey. 

The Fianna Fáil councillor's comments came at the March meeting of Louth County Council in which she questioned what the local authority's plan is to tackle the debt. 

Louth County Council is currently owed just shy of €4 million in rent arrears with the nearly €3.7 million of the debt owed by tenants with arrears of over 12 weeks. 

Cllr Coffey said despite over 900 tenants being entered into a household budget plan, it still leaves over 500 that aren't in any payment plan with the local authority. 

"We’re €4 million in debt, I know the rent collections have come up since last year but €4 million has a significant impact on our budget."

Louth County Council have seen a 10% increase in rental income compared to the same period in 2025, and an 18% increase on 2024.

"What is being done? I appreciate the difficulty the local authority has in enforcement of these and the length of time it takes to enforce a breach of a rental agreement," she said.

Cllr Coffey also questioned what Louth County Council does once it is has "exhausted everything".

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Ger Murphy, Director of Services for Housing with Louth County Council acknowledged that rent arrears has been discussed "a number of times in this chamber" and said it is a "priority for the housing team". 

"We’ve put in place a systematic approach in terms of how to address arrears. Particularly tenants that are in significant arrears. We’ll review our internal procedures and a look at internal resources as well," he said. 

The number of tenants in arrears with Louth County Council has decreased by 69 to 1145 as of February 24th compared to the month previous.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.