Church of Ireland parishes are coming under “significant” financial pressure because empty rectories are being charged the Vacant Homes Tax (VHT).
The Most Reverend Dr Michael Jackson, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, warned the Taoiseach that the introduction of the tax was creating “difficulties” for churches where parochial homes are left “unintentionally” empty after a cleric moves on.
It came in advance of the Church of Ireland warning the Government that it suffers from a “credibility gap” with the public because it has missed its own housing targets.
The correspondence between religious leaders and the Office of An Taoiseach were released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act.
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Last November 14th, Archbishop Jackson wrote to then Taoiseach Simon Harris to warn about the effect the VHT was having on parishes. The tax, which was introduced at the end of 2022, applies to residential properties that are used as dwellings for less than 20 days in a full year.
From November 2023 to October 2024, the VHT rate was five times the basic Local Property Tax rate (LPT). From November 2024 to October 2025, the VHT increased to seven times the value of the basic LPT.
“I would like to highlight the difficulties our churches are facing because of the introduction of the Vacant Homes Tax,” Archbishop Jackson wrote in a letter to Mr Harris, two weeks before the general election.
He said the “largest single category of dwellings” held in trust for Church of Ireland churches were parochial homes for clerics.
“Due to the movement of clergy between parishes or upon the retirement of a clergy person parishes can be left with a rectory that is vacant until a new clergy person is appointed.”
The archbishop said that a rectory could be left empty for as long as 12 months, depending on different circumstances of the parish or diocese.
“As a result, some of our parishes have unintentionally found themselves liable for the [VHT] and this is placing significant pressure on their finances.”
While the properties previously would have been rented out by Church of Ireland, Archbishop Jackson said that tenancy laws meant that the diocese was “unable to permit short-term leases to be authorised”.
Separately, Church of Ireland’s Church and Society Commission (CASC) wrote to Taoiseach Micheál Martin in March to offer commentary on the Programme for Government.
CASC, which is Church of Ireland’s “social theology” unit, welcomed the Government’s commitment to build 300,000 homes by 2030.
“The unfortunate fact that the repeated target for last year was not met has both compounded the problem and left a credibility gap with the public which will also need to be positively addressed,” it said.
CASC also said it was “disappointed” that the Programme for Government had failed to mention the role of churches in society and the “positive” effects they can have.
