Council seeking sites for housing projects
Mayo County Council is looking to purchase land for housing at a number of locations across the county, including Achill Island.
The matter was raised at a meeting of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District last week when the head of the district Seamus Ó Mongáin said the council's housing unit was “acutely aware of demand" in Mayo for housing and was looking at various sites.
Cllr Brendan Mulroy said the recently completed 50-unit council housing project delivered at the Golf Course Road in Westport should be used as a model for future developments. It includes social and affordable housing and is a “spectacular site to look at”, according to Cllr Mulroy.
“The amount of people trying to buy and settle down in the Westport area is huge so I would be saying we need as much land to build on as possible. We need to be leading out for the people who are trying to live here. There is more land down the Golf Course Road we could look at."
Erris-based Cllr Gerry Coyle said he wanted housing developments to happen not just in Belmullet town but also in the surrounding villages.
“We want the Doohomas, Rossports and Carrowteigues all kept alive, the same in Pullathomas. The council talks about delays in getting to construction but I would recommend they get the people who rebuilt Munnelly’s pub after the fire because it is due to re-open on August 8.”
Cllr Coyle also said he was really shocked that the €64,000 in funding needed to re-build two houses in Belmullet that have pyrite was still not available, given that “the insurance covers the rest of it".
Cllr John O’Malley queried the delay in funding the repair of two council houses that remain closed up in Westport even though “we have people now homeless looking for housing".
Cllr Sean Carey asked if there was a “special scheme coming on board for the pyrite houses owned by the council” as they were still lying vacant, which was “a disgrace.” Mr Ó Mongáin confirmed there was a specific scheme but that it had not yet been “passed by Government".
Cathaoirleach Cllr Peter Flynn called for the council's Head of Housing to be invited to the Westport-Belmullet municipal meeting in September to give an update on council housing projects in Mayo.
"From what I see we own very little land," Cllr Flynn remarked.
Cllr Mulroy also questioned the census data from 2022 and claimed Westport's population was higher by "two or three thousand" than stated in the census.
