County Council ‘driving homebuyers out of the market’
The price that Galway County Council has agreed to pay for homes in Gort will make property unaffordable for young couples, it was claimed last week.
Councillor Joe Byrne (FG) told last week’s Loughrea Municipal District meeting that the Council had been given approval to purchase 31 units on the Tubber Road in Gort for €7.8 million.
“That averages €252,000 for homes in a turn-key condition – I find that to be an elevated price to be paying for two and three-bedroom houses. If Galway County Council are paying what I consider an inflated price, it might drive up prices for young couple in Gort,” he remarked.
Fianna Fáil’s Ivan Canning concurred that the local authority was paying “over the odds for houses” while there were so many empty Council houses dotted around County Galway, some of which the Council did not appear to know about.
“We have an awful lot of empty stock. I know of people who leave houses and it’s three years before the Council puts someone back in at an extortionate cost to bring them back because they’re empty so long.”
He asked how much the Council paid out for “slip and trips” on public footpaths, speculating that it was a lot more than would be spent on upgrading footpaths, which were “in a state” in Portumna.
He accused Council staff of “wasting huge amounts of money each year”.
Director of Services for Infrastructure and Operations, Jim Cullen, said if people fell and sued, the Council would defend the court cases and there was often contributory negligence involved. The incidents were covered by the Council’s liability insurance.
“I can’t accept the Council is wasting a lot of money. In order for the Council to get approval to buy houses, we have to go through a lot of hoops. The Department doesn’t give out money easily,” he retorted.
He said some local authority properties were handed back in poor condition, others were offered to tenants and rejected while yet more were handed back to the Council in areas where there was not a housing need.
Cllr Canning said he had been told the Council owned three houses on one road and when he started investigating further, he discovered they in fact owned eight houses – many of them empty.
Planning was recently granted to build 24 homes in the Oranhill Estate in Oranmore in an area earmarked for a community facility. Councillor Martina Kinane asked if the Council had reached an agreement to purchase these homes.
She understood that the Council had received €1.5m from development contributions for the estate.
“There is a housing need . . . but I don’t want the community space to be lost.”
Mr Cullen said he would not comment on whether the Council was in negotiation over properties.