Councillors want to know who got McVerry homes

REPRESENTATIVES of the Peter McVerry Trust are to be invited to attend a meeting of the Western Division of Cork County Council to discuss housing policy.

The approved housing body recently allocated 10 social housing units in Bantry town, following the redevelopment of what was once Vickery’s Hotel.

Cllr Danny Collins (Ind) admitted he was miffed, having made 13 recommendations for allocations. 

The former mayor also said he would have expected to have been notified of the final allocations.

The Bantry-based councillor complained that he did not get a response from the organisation when he tried to find out the names of the successful candidates. 

‘I rang them and I left messages, and I didn’t get a reply,’ he said. ‘Can we have a meeting in West Cork, or in County Hall, with representatives of the Peter McVerry Trust?’ he asked.

The Council’s housing director, Maurice Manning, outlined the good work that the housing body has completed all over Cork county.

‘They have successfully delivered a number of projects,’ said Mr Manning, who explained that the Council notifies its members of its own allocations, but it doesn’t notify councillors about allocations made by approved housing bodies.

Mr Manning said they would ‘look into’ the possibility of having public representatives notified of these allocations in future.

‘There’s no reason why that shouldn’t happen,’ he added, ‘as for the meeting, we can ask them to come in and brief us but they are not accountable to the members.

‘We cannot address issues about applicants or tenants, but they could give an overview rather than discussing individual developments,’ said Mr Manning.

‘It would be wrong,’ he added, ‘if the message went out that there was a problem because the Peter McVerry Trust is very well established.’

Mr Manning also acknowledged the point made by Fianna Fáil’s Cllr Patrick Gerard Murphy that the provision of one and two bedroom housing units is helpful in meeting the local housing demand, given that 50% of the people on the Council’s waiting list are single, and a significant percent of those who are homeless are single too.

Meanwhile, Cllr Joe Carroll (FF) asked the Council to assist the people of Castlehaven – who cannot ‘of late’ seem to get planning permission – by buying land that has gone into receivership in Castletownshend.

He suggested that the Council could create serviced sites to assist people who don’t qualify for social housing – a proposal that was fully backed by Cllr Caroline Cronin (FG).

‘There’s a fear,’ said Cllr Carroll, ‘that some of our villages in West Cork will turn into old folk, open homes.

‘Glandore,’ the councillor cited as an example, ‘was once the most sought-after village, but not anymore – you can’t buy a bottle of milk there.’

Mr Manning said he would examine what options are available but he ruled out the provision of serviced sites.

‘That scheme doesn’t exist anymore but there are other schemes that might be of assistance,’ he said.

The Southern Star’s several attempts to contact The Peter McVerry Trust for a comment were unsuccessful.