Estate residents want out over neighbour’s behaviour

SEVERAL residents of a Clonakilty estate have applied for a transfer because of the behaviour of one of their neighbours which a councillor claimed has been going on for a number of years.

At this week’s meeting of the local authority, councillors had been discussing a motion by North Cork-based councillor William O’Leary who had asked for a report from the housing directorate regarding the role garda vetting plays in the housing allocation process.

Cllr Paul Hayes (Ind) welcomed this discussion and said the Council needs more stringent policies where people are cognisant of their responsibilities when being a tenant.

‘I have a situation in Clonakilty where I have numerous people in an estate looking for a transfer out of there because of issues with one particular neighbour,’ said Cllr Hayes.

‘There have been frequent visits from the gardaí and the situation is ongoing for years and it doesn’t seem to be getting resolved anytime soon. I do think we need a number of measures that people must conform to and if they don’t they’re breaching their terms with the Council and they need to move on.’

Cllr Danny Collins (Ind) pointed out that a lot of people could be on the housing waiting list for a number of years but could get into trouble in the interim. He queried if that status changes when this happens.

‘We have certain residents who are living in certain estates around West Cork who don’t give a damn about their neighbours. I have plenty of examples of this and it’s just not good enough. A review of garda vetting is certainly needed and a proper estate management needs to be implemented,’ said Cllr Collins.

Cllr O’Leary noted that there hasn’t been a review in 10 years of allocation guidelines and he said one is urgently needed and they need to look at incorporating garda vetting specifically into the guidelines.

Council chief executive Tim Lucey said they have an ‘extremely robust’ allocation scheme in place and they do have a system on board where they seek garda vetting.

‘There’s always discretion there but I’m satisfied we use all information available to make the right decisions.’

Director of housing Maurice Manning said that all allocations are made in accordance with the Cork County Council’s allocation scheme.