Taken from The Southern Star published Saturday, September 4th, 1999.

The extreme pressure that young couples are facing when it comes to finding a house or site to buy in the Skibbereen area was highlighted in a heartfelt letter to the members of Skibbereen Urban District Council.

The letter, which was distributed at the August meeting, called on the UDC members to highlight one young couple’s "grave concern about the housing crisis in Skibbereen for first time buyers".

The couple, both of whom are professional people, have already been saving for more than a year in order to buy a house in the locality. However, after watching the market closely for the last twelve months they are no closer to their dream.

Even with a sizeable deposit they find that the most they can secure from a lending institution is £70,000. "At this point", the letter writer said, "we are feeling very despondent about our chances of being able to buy a starter home for ourselves in Skibbereen or its environs".

A visit to local auctioneers confirmed that there are no new housing estates being built in Skibbereen. Meanwhile, their search for a second hand house, in the £80,000 bracket, also came to nothing.

EXPLORED OPTION

The couple have explored the option of buying a site, but with the prices averaging at about £40,000, they feel that this too is beyond their means. A number of other options, eight mile or more from the town, were considered, but they also proved to be outside of their price range.

They found, for example, that a "two up, two down" cottage one mile from the nearest village of Caheragh costs £95,000. At that stage, the letter writer said "We realised that there were no habitable houses to be bought for less than £100,000 which excludes us from the housing ladder".

In writing the letter, the author said: "We wish to highlight our plight and the plight of other young couples, like us, who are earning a reasonable salary but who can not afford to buy a house".

"One auctioneer acknowledged that there was a huge gap in the market for first time buyers in Skibbereen", she said, "and we feel that it is the council’s duty to address this crisis immediately".

The couple have already made a written submission for consideration for one of the private sites at Upper Bridge Street, Skibbereen. In the most recent letter, they stressed that these sites may be "our only hope of having a home when we are married".

They did, however, acknowledge the huge level of interest there is in the local authority development, which includes fourteen private sites, as well as the construction of five, three bedroomed local authority houses.

The couple expressed the hope that the council would "take into account first time buyers like us in your allocation of these sites ...and see our problem as a representative case of other young couples in Skibbereen".

The housing situation in Skibbereen has been the subject of much controversy. A long number of years ago council officials had proposed building a large housing estate at the Upper Bridge Street site.

But more recently the officials proposed building twelve local authority houses on the Upper Bridge Street site, but that too was opposed by the UDC members and an association representing Bridge Street residents.

Council officials claimed that the sloping site would be expensive to develop and that twelve rather than five houses would be required to offset the cost. But after much campaigning, on the grounds that the development would be "too dense", the Department of Environment agreed to the council’s and residents’ request to have the number of two-storey council houses limited to five. There are, however, five smaller local authority units already on site.

About a year ago, it was suggested that the private sites would cost in the region of £18,000, but the Assistant County Manager subsequently said they could be sold at a greatly reduced cost to people on the housing list.

In other areas, private sites have been offered for as little as £1,000 to local authority tenants who were prepared to hand back a council house. Meanwhile, people on the housing list were, under Departmental guidelines, offered sites for about £4,000.

The housing crisis in Skibbereen took another dramatic turn when residents from the High Street and Poundhill area objected to the council’s plans to build ten new local authority houses at Pound Hill and two more at St. Fachtna’s Terrace.

The residents claimed that the vast majority of social housing was concentrated in one part of the town and that the council, by its actions, was effectively turning it into a "ghetto".

They submitted that the proposal would bring the number of council houses in that area to fifty-six, which is "out of balance" with the thirteen houses in the rest of the town, including eight of which are in Glencurragh and five in Bridge Street.

SCHEME REFUSED

The most recent housing controversy, apart from objections to another development in the Mardyke area, relates to an attempt by builder, Mr. Tim Looney, to build a 23-house scheme on land he purchased from IDA Ireland.

Cork County Council has refused planning permission for this private housing development on the grounds that there had been "a material contravention" of the West Cork County Development Plan, where the policy was to promote agriculture uses within the three-mile limit of Skibbereen and resist housing development.

The planners also decided that as the proposed development was adjacent to an industrial estate and as Skibbereen had limited industrial employment, it would be important to create and maintain favourable conditions to attract industry to the proposed site.

Meanwhile at the August meeting, Mr. Michael Dwyer pointed out that for the last two or three years, the Department of the Environment have sanctioned funds for houses in Skibbereen but none have been built due to delays with the Upper Bridge Street site. "It is", he said, "a disgrace".

But Mr. Donal McCarthy was more critical of the delay with the Architect’s Department. Following a decision by the lowest tenderer to withdraw, the second tender was sent to the County Architect for examination.

"We are told we must wait", said Mr. Donal McCarthy, while the sites are "lying idle". But the Acting County Manager, Mr. Ted Manley took exception to Mr. McCarthy’s remarks saying: "the second lowest tender has been with the County Architect since July ... that is not an unreasonable length of time".

Mr. Patrick McCarthy, Mr. Brendan Leahy and Mr. Richard Carthy all questioned the Manager on the proposed development at Pound Hill. They said it was their understanding that a road would be put in place before the development went ahead.

The acting Town Clerk told the members that it was her understanding that the road would be done in conjunction with the building project. It also emerged that the contract for this development may be ready for signing at the September meeting.

In relation to the Upper Bridge Street site, Mr. Joe Carroll asked how many people have applied for the private sites, and both the acting Town Clerk and the Chairperson, Mrs. Catherine O’Keeffe, said the list was as long as the room.

"This is going on for a number of years", said the twice-elected Mr. Bernie Daly, "and there is still as much grass in the field as when we started out". He said: "We should move in a couple off diggers – it can’t be such a big deal – do we have to wait on an architect to draw up plans for that?" But the acting Manager, Mr. Manley again said that the council members were "over-simplifying the issue".

Mr. Patrick McCarthy urged the council to draw up a criterion for the allocation of the private sites. He said he did not want to see the sites going to speculators that they should be reserved for genuine applicants only.

Commenting on Mr. Looney’s plans to build 23-houses on a former IDA site, Mr. Donal McCarthy said that with so many public inquiries on the go at the present the council had a right to question how the IDA disposed of the site. He said it was "obvious that there was a loophole" and he alleged that the "IDA erred and would have to admit it".

At the previous meeting the councillors sent a letter to the IDA asking them if there was a provision in the sale of the land that it would be used for the construction of three industrial units. The council has not yet received a reply.

Commenting on the difficulties facing first time buyers, the Chairperson, Mrs. O’Keeffe said it was "appalling" that there was nothing available in the Skibbereen area. She took issue with Mr. Donal McCarthy, who informed her that one of the people who sent the letter to the UDC was angry about the way she dealt with it.

The Chairperson had visited estate agents herself to assess the situation and ascertain what was available. She then passed this information on to the couple in question.

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