Funds are needed to get vacant houses repaired

By Kieran O’Mahony

CORK County Council repaired or refurbished 33 vacant houses in West Cork in 2014, according to a management report for the Western Division on Housing.

The report also highlighted that there are presently 61 vacant houses in the county, with 21 of them casual vacancies and 40 of them long-term.

Cllr Michael Collins pointed out that funds should be made available immediately to get vacant houses ready and that there seem to be lots of situations where Council houses aren’t being repaired.

Cllr Kevin Murphy spoke in relation to houses that are vacant in Ballinspittle and said the number of contractors is too small to ensure houses are ready available when made vacant.

‘We have received no formal allocation from the Department for this year’s programme in terms of housing units, and while we would favour funding, no allocation has been received yet, the report sets out what we have done in 2014,’ said Mary Ryan, director of services in Housing.

‘We will be inviting people to tender and hope to have houses ready for November. These contractors must have a certain amount of experience and criteria and we should be getting more interest this time.’

Mac Dar O Hici, head of procurement at Cork County Council, said the Council is hoping that more applicants will come in, as it’s an open tender, and that they don’t limit the numbers.