'Every single house' will have to be rebuilt in Mayo estate

A Westport councillor has claimed that every house in a local housing estate will have to be demolished due to defective concrete blocks.

Fianna Fail Cllr Brendan Mulroy told a meeting of Mayo County Council last week that the Pairc na Coille estate on the Golf Course Road in the town has been severely impacted by the pyrite problem, which has mainly affected homes in North Mayo. 

Mayo County Council has always maintained that the 54-house estate is a private housing development, but residents argue that the estate was developed by the council, with housing agency Respond, as an affordable housing scheme.

Highlighting the dire scenario facing home-owners who "purchased their properties in good faith", Cllr Mulroy called for a report on the building of the estate more than two decades ago.

"We never got to the nub of the problem, of what happened after the Respond housing body came on site. What we know is there was a delay in handing over the keys and Mayo County Council had to come in and finish a snag list.

“I ask the chief executive to initiate an enquiry on this. Can we get a report, so that people once and for all get closure. They have been left with no support and many are in serious financial trouble which is affecting their health. On that piece of land that is now fresh air in parts, the council has a clawback on it. The situation is only getting worse and every single house will have to be knocked and rebuilt. It beggars belief that the council says it has a clawback and then stands idly by.” 

Cllr John O’Malley seconded the call, saying: “What is happening here is a disgrace, a heartache. The way these people are being left is horrendous.”

The council's chief executive Kevin Kelly told members: “Quite a bit of work was done on Pairc na Coille back in 2023 and we supported the residents writing to the Department requesting a number of facilitations. I think the outcome was some amendments to the scheme but there have been no additional variations made for the people there. Certainly there is an opportunity for individual house-owners who have had to demolish their houses and who have the council clawback on their property to come in and speak to us individually.”

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.