Housing body will be taken to task over Carrigaline

CORK County Council is to write to the Housing Agency over its failure to include the southern side of Carrigaline as a rent pressure zone. 

In February, Sinn Féin Cllr Eoin Jeffers raised the motion regarding the designation of the southern side of Carrigaline as a rent pressure zone.

‘It beggars belief that Minister Coveney let this happen in his own constituency,’ said Cllr Jeffers.

Cllr Rachel McCarthy echoed her colleague’s comment and described the move as ‘discrimination by address’ and said it makes no sense for the town to be divided.

Minister Coveney had announced in January that the rent cap scheme was to be extended to a number of commuter towns in Cork including Ballincollig, Douglas, Passage West and Carrigaline.  

However, Carrigaline was split in two in the most recent boundary review which means that the  area south of the Owenboy is part of the Bandon/Kinsale district and therefore doesn’t get the 4% cap. The northern side of the town does, however, qualify as it is in the Ballincollig/Carrigaline Municipal District.

A letter from Minister Coveney’s private secretary said that the Minister had requested the director of the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) to conduct an assessment of the area to see if it meets the criteria. However, it pointed out that that Minister Coveney is unable to intervene as the ‘designation process is transparent, independent and based on clear objective criteria and quantifiable evidence.’

County Mayor Cllr Seamus McGrath said the issue  goeswback to the root cause of Carrigaline being divided in two and said the Council should write back to the Housing Agency.

‘There are serious contradictions in the response and if the southern half of Carrigaline meets the criteria, it should be included,’ he said.