Council praised for housing delivery 'progress'

Members of Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District have paid tribute to Mayo County Council’s Director of Housing Tom Gilligan for performing well in terms of delivering social houses around the county. 

Cathaoirleach Cllr Michael Burke made his comments after councillors were informed that eight houses in Cross in South Mayo will be ready to be occupied in a few weeks. 

"I also understand that three or four developments in Ballinrobe will open up 13 or 14 houses which are soon to be filled, so I have to say to Tom Gilligan, you are meeting your targets.” 

Cllr Burke also acknowledged all the work done by the council's Head of Housing Olivia Gallagher, stating: “It’s not an easy job and the problem of housing is not going to go away anytime soon. If you buy a site today and go through the planning process, people from Cork and Donegal can still object to something in Mayo. The reality is it is three years down the road before you can get a house started. It’s not an easy fix and never will be, and we are still only talking about 34,000 to 35,000 houses a year being built nationally so Mayo is maybe even doing a bit better than most.”

Cllr Alma Gallagher noted that 25 houses were being developed in Abbeyquarter in Ballyhaunis. 

"It is great to see such activity. Thanks to all involved as well as the council executive. It is a fabulous facility, and these units are very much needed in Ballyhaunis. Up to this we were over-reliant on the conversion of commercial to residential so this expansion of residential development is very welcome.” 

Cllr Gallagher asked the Director of Services to ensure that public lighting and an extension of footpaths from the development would also be provided as part of the works, and along the entrance to the nearby graveyard. Mr Gilligan said he would follow up on this request.

Cllr Damien Ryan told the Director of Services he was meeting his targets but said there was more to be done, noting that Minister for Housing James Browne, on a recent visit to Mayo, had called for more "activity on CPOs (compulsory purchase orders) and dereliction".

"We have had less than ten CPOs in this municipal district when we should have double that and more each year. If the Government is pushing us to do it the funding should be there also.” 

Cllr Ryan referred to Carlow County Council which "took one whole street that was in a state of dereliction, put CPOs on it and that has been turned around into new houses". 

"That is what we need," he added. 

The Director of Services thanked members for their kind words, noting that the recent social houses developed on Mount Street in Claremorris are also ready for occupation. 

“I agree we do need to do more on CPOs because Mayo County Council can identify a large number of vacant and disused buildings with strong potential for delivery. The main barrier we experience at local authority level is around complex ownership, shared inheritance and probate and legal responsibility. There is a high cost of refurbishment and also contractor fees and that all drives up costs. But we do need to do more on CPOs and are getting to a level of being more proactive on this.

“It isn’t enough just to do individual premises one at a time and if we were to look at street capacity projects, that would certainly benefit our towns.” 

Cllr Richard Finn added: “It’s positive news that the Housing Minster is proposing to bring in legislation to the Dail to allow developers build their own water and wastewater treatment plants for housing. That is where we can solve the problem because no matter if it is Uisce Éireann or Mayo County Council, they won’t be able to solve the water problems on their own. It is the builders and developers who will solve it and this in turn will help smaller towns and villages where housing is needed.”

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.