Review of vacant Mayo council homes to return them to use

FOURTEEN council properties are lying vacant in north Mayo as they await works before new tenants can move in.

In some cases, people have offered to carry out works themselves if they could just get housing.

There is some good news, though, with six due to return to use in the coming months, with a review underway.

Two of the homes in question are vacant as a result of fire damage, and in addition to the ones above, there are also 16 or 17 council properties in the Erris area not fit to live in due to pyrite.

Councillor Gerry Coyle raised the situation at a municipal district meeting where he asked what is being done since he received the list of 14 homes last November.

In a time of a housing crisis the situation was unbelieveable, he said.

A sum of €64,000 would bring the burnt houses back into commission, he said, and surely the council could find that.

On the other homes, if their previous residents had stayed in them there wouldn't be a word about them. But now, to re-let them, they required BER certs, etc.

“Put a roof over people's heads,” he implored of management, before they start talking about retrofitting.

Three people said they would do the work themselves if they could get a house, and yet here the council are waiting for a few pound to do it.

Councillor Coyle was told a number of issues can impact vacancies, including land issues, family issues and substantial repairs, but the real issue is waiting for funding.

There is a national plan to deal with pyrite in council properties and hopefully that will come on stream soon.

A review of vacant housing is being done in the Westport-Belmullet Municipal District. A tender is going out around now to return six properties on the Belmullet list to occupancy by St. Patrick's Day.

The Westport review is ongoing as well.