Meeting hears of Mayo houses 'on the verge of collapse'
Council houses in Erris are in danger of collapse, a local councillor has warned.
An Erris councillor has urged Mayo County Council to take action on council-owned houses with pyrite that have been allowed to lie derelict.
“There are approximately 20 houses in Erris that aren’t being lived in, belonging to the council that are affected by the pyrite,” Cllr Gerry Coyle told the monthly meeting of Mayo County Council.
“In a few months’ time, we will soon have to put barriers up on those houses to prevent young people going in. They are going to collapse on top of somebody.
“We own the site, we own the sewerage system, there are footpaths and there are lights but no house,” he added.
He said he sent pictures of the site to the former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar but nothing happened.
“There are people waiting for houses. We have houses there that cannot be lived in and we are saying, ‘Oh, we’ll leave it to someone else.’ We are out there looking for sites to build new houses and we have the site there. Within a few weeks they could be knocked and rebuilt,” said Cllr Coyle.
Meanwhile, a recent academic study has identified a “severely high” prevalence of mental health conditions among people living in homes made from defective concrete blocks. Academics described the results as "alarming".
