Council flats need another clean-up — just two years after €10,000 spend
Galway City Council has been urged to give another facelift to Walter Macken Flats in Mervue — just two years after they were cleaned at a cost of €10,000.
Councillor Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) said the façade of the flats had deteriorated since it was cleaned just two years ago.
She said that €10,000 was spent to clean the City Council property in early 2024 but claimed last week that it was “not value for money”.
It needed to be redone, she said at the latest City East Area Committee meeting.
Councillor O’Flaherty noted that in 2006, when the flats were renovated, the local authority assured elected members that they used “maintenance-free cladding” on Walter Macken Flats.
“It turns out it is not maintenance-free at all,” she fumed.
Councillor O’Flaherty said that 60 years ago, her home house got a ‘pebble dash’, which was to this day “still perfect”, unlike the front of the Walter Macken Flats which had deteriorated in just two years.
She said that people used to get their photographs taken outside the church opposite, but that no longer happened because of the state of the flats in the background.
Councillor O’Flaherty said the residents in the flats deserved to have their homes presentable and it was up to the local authority to do that.
At the previous City East area meeting, Elizabeth Fanning, Director of Services, said that cleaning works had taken place early in 2024 using a biocide soft wash which had been effective at that time.
But she accepted that it had deteriorated in localised areas and a review of what further cleaning works were required would be done in early 2026.
Councillor O’Flaherty secured €10,000 in 2023 to clean the outside of the six blocks of flats and she was annoyed that they were deteriorated again.
Pictured: Clean-up needed: Cllr Terry O'Flaherty at the Walter Macken flats. Photo: Joe O'Shaughnessy.