Five hundred and forty housing units were built under the Capital Assistance Programme Part V along with “turn key” units and “that’s a great figure coming from where we have been”, Independent Cllr Nick Killian told a meeting of Meath County Council. It was great to see the Part V’s coming on board and that was down to planning and all the hard work over the years. “I have to say we’re in the right direction “, he said. The cllr also drew attention to the fact that €427,000 had been approved for Meath County Council for social housing and people
with disabilities.
He also raised the issue of the transfer of the post office in Ratoath to the Supervalu premises. He highlighted the fact that there were no facilities for people in wheelchairs from Arkle House to get to the new post office location. “That must be rectified ASAP”, he said. Money must be found for the provision of footpaths, disabled people had a right to proper access. An official replied that the position of vulnerable people in the community would be examined and it was hoped to come up with suitable solutions for them.
Fine Gael Cllr Maria Murphy raised the issue of delay in the processing of applications for housing, saying this had “slipped back” to 15 weeks. That was in a very bad direction, she thought. Three or four months was a “long wait” for people who needed accommodation. She welcomed the news that 50 independent living units would be provided at Dunboyne Castle.
Independent Cllr Alan Lawes said he felt it unfair that counties like Louth, Westmeath, Fingal and Kildare had access to homeless accommodation in Meath. He felt also that Meath County Council was “too harsh” in its interpretation of local need under the 2011 housing regulations. This was enforced “stringently”. He did not like the idea that homeless people could be excluded from Meath if they did not have a local connection. There were 130 children living in emergency accommodation in the county and back in 2021 that figure was down at 49 children. There was a continuous upward trend which was detrimental to children’s welfare, he said.
Sinn Fein Cllr Helen Meyer also raised the question of the backlog in applications for social housing. She said that 108 applications had been received, 30 were approved, 22 were unsuccessful and 56 had yet to be processed. Questions arose over how long it was taking to have applications processed. The cllr said she was dealing with a person who was waiting for four months to see if her application was successful. This was proving very stressful for people, she said.
Director of Services for Housing Fiona Fallon, in reply to points raised by Cllrs Meyer and Murphy, said that local authorities are allowed to take a 12-week period for the processing of housing applications so the fact that it was taking 10-12 weeks to process applications was “within the allowed time”. She admitted that there had been some delays but this was because people had not submitted the required information in full. If council staff did not to have to go back to seek further information then the whole process would be “speeded up”.
The council would be looking at “open nights” similar to those held in Fingal where people would be able to access as much information as
they needed, she added Unfortunately, the numbers of children in emergency accommodation had risen nationally but in
Meath it was hoped to soon open up a family hub in the county.
Above picture at a recent launch of a number of housing projects in Meath; Cathaoirleach of Meath County Council Cllr Sharon Tolan, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne TD, Minister of State for European Affairs and Defence, Thomas Byrne TD, Chief Executive of Meath County Council Kieran Kehoe, Minister for Education and Youth, Helen McEntee TD, Director of Services at Meath County Council Fiona Fallon, Cathaoirleach of the Ashbourne MD Cllr Alan Tobin, Director of Services at Meath County Council Barry Lynch, and Cllr Joe Bonner, cutting the ribbon at Millrace in Ashbourne.
