Emergency accommodation use at former Mayo pub "not communicated" to community

A local councillor has criticised Mayo County Council for failing to engage with the local community in Balla regarding the use of a former pub as emergency accommodation.

Fine Gael Cllr Donna Sheridan told yesterday’s meeting of the Castlebar Municipal District the Olde Woods pub, which closed in January 2023, is being used to house homeless people, something which the local community was not made aware of until it happened.

“We need homeless accommodation but having it in places with no full-time or 24-hour staff is not suitable and it is not appropriate to have background supports and services in place,” she said.

She proposed that a public meeting be held in Balla so there is “communication” and “transparency” around this issue.

However, her proposal failed to attract a seconder. Independent Cllr Michael Kilcoyne said Cllr Sheridan should direct her proposal to her party leader because they are currently in Government.

“If he did his job correctly, we wouldn’t need emergency accommodation,” he said.

Cllr Sheridan’s party colleague Cllr Burke said he would rather a private meeting take place between the Head of the Castlebar MD, the accommodation provider and a delegation from the local community council.

“We need further debate around the provision of emergency accommodation in our MD. Some people need services and others just need a home because their landlord might be selling up the place they’ve rented for the last 10 or 15 years,” he said.

“We’ve raised it before about families being sent to emergency accommodation in Charlestown and we do need a number of properties to house people until we get social houses such as the Lawn Road and Ellison Street developments built.”

“I want our officials to meet with the operator here rather than holding a public meeting where people come along and assume things.”

Cllr Al McDonnell said the owner of the Olde Woods had contacted him prior to the MD meeting and explained that the property is currently leased to a company providing accommodation there.

There are ten units and when three recently became vacant, the Council approached the company to use the Olde Woods as emergency accommodation.

“There are also a lot of false rumours around people engaging in anti-social behaviour on the street there. The owner is a highly respected individual and he is determined that if there was any future misbehaviour, it would be rectified,” said Cllr McDonnell.

Director of Services for the Castlebar MD David Mellett said there is no formal arrangement between the Council and the property lessee and the use of the Olde Woods was out of necessity.

“When the Charlestown Lodge facility is full, we look for other places. We try our best to keep young families close to towns and schools and a further debate on this subject would be good to have,” he said.

Cllr Sheridan said she was disappointed her proposal for a public meeting was not supported.