Proposed disposal of Abbeyfeale properties to Limerick Twenty Thirty raises serious questions

COUNCILLORS have warned the local authority that it could be "creating a monster" with the proposed disposal of six properties...

COUNCILLORS have warned the local authority that it could be “creating a monster” with the proposed disposal of six properties in Abbeyfeale to Limerick Twenty Thirty.

At October’s Newcastle West district meeting, Mayor John Moran’s plans to allocate the Council-owned stock to the project development company to fulfil key objectives of the mayoral programme were revealed.

The disposal of the six Abbeyfeale properties at Convent Road, 6 and 7 Colbert Terrace, 8 Old Church Street, and units 1 and 2 at the Bridge Inn will form part of a targeted approach to providing a cost-recovery rental model for future housing purposes in the area. The six properties comprise of three three-bed houses, a one-bed unit, a two-bed unit, and a four-bed units.

According to the Council, this proposed intervention is intended to diversify the local housing offer by providing opportunities for working households and key workers to access rental properties in Abbeyfeale. In doing so, councillors were informed, this will support a more balanced tenure profile, increase disposable household incomes, strengthen local spending power, and contribute to the long-term social and economic sustainability of the West Limerick town.

Fianna Fáil councillor Michael Collins, an auctioneer by trade, took issue with the proposal to dispose of the six properties to Limerick Twenty Thirty Strategic Development DAC. He called for a workshop to be organised without delay on the matter for all elected members of Limerick Council.

“I have an issue with disposing of these properties. I don’t think we should be using the Limerick Twenty Thirty DAC for getting into private housing matters. That niche is offered to look after commercial developments in the city and county.

“I would like to see that they get more involved in driving commercial activity in the county, and in particular, in the county town where we don’t have many commercial lands available,” Cllr Collins commented.

Cllr Collins took the view that if a company arrived out in Newcastle West and wanted to set up a business, they would be hindered by the lack of a commercially viable site.

“We’d lose them to probably the city or county. So that’s one fundamental which is still ahead. I don’t think we should be mixing commercial activity with private activity. I don’t think the Council, after doing up these properties with funding from the State, should be handing them over to a DAC,” Cllr Collins insisted.

He urged the Council to keep the six properties in their own ownership before taking issue with the district’s Cathaoirleach, Cllr Liam Galvin, having met the Mayor privately to view the houses.

“I believe the Mayor met you in Abbeyfeale last weekend. There are six members in this district, and I don’t know why he didn’t meet the six members to discuss his proposals for thism” Cllr Collins told the meeting.

Cllr Galvin explained that he had asked to meet the Mayor as he had been calling for these properties to be utilised for the past two years.

“They have been lying idle and the community are asking me ‘what are ye doing with these six houses?’” Cllr Galvin informed him.

“I asked to meet the Mayor in Abbeyfeale and I went to see all these properties. I have to say, they are Grade A standard – wonderful houses. I believe we will have them ready by the middle of November. I wasn’t 100 per cent in favour of the scheme that the Mayor was proposing but I am willing to give it a chance.”

Cllr Galvin pointed out to Cllr Collins that three months previously he had agreed fully with his comments on the disposals.

“There are six houses lying idle years. It’s only the other day I got a phone call from a private couple that have been given a letter from their landlord to get out. They have two young children and they are looking for the private renting market.

“There’s a demand for the private rental market because they haven’t developed the houses in Abbeyfeale. These six houses will target working couples that need properties inside in the town. Whether you are a schoolteacher or a doctor or a nurse, this is what’s being targeted. In fairness, we need to give it a go,” he insisted.

But Cllr Collins warned against “meddling in the private market”.

“That’s not our job. Our job as a local authority is to provide good quality housing. If we go down this road, we’re going to create a two-tier system whereby you could have a young doctor and his wife in one of these houses paying a small rent. They could be earning hundreds of thousands income and still paying the same rent. How is that equitable?

“You could have someone next door on social welfare paying the same rent. I’m totally against it because it creates a two-tier system. I want good quality housing provided by our local authority for our young people,” he added.

The Mayor’s new model is aiming for a gradual development of a revolving housing fund capable of supporting future acquisitions, refurbishment programmes, and regeneration projects.

Sarah Newell, senior executive officer in the Council’s Housing Directorate, said it was appropriate that Limerick Twenty Thirty become the asset manager to deal with tenancies and allocations. The rental for these six Abbeyfeale properties, she revealed, will be market rent with tenants paying around €800 for a one-bed unit, and up to €1,200 for a three-bed unit.

Cllr Collins hit out claiming that the figures she quoted were far from market rent.

“That’s well below market rent. This is where there’s going to be a two-tier system. It’s not fair and it is weighted against the private market. I’m totally against it,” he fumed.

Fine Gael councillor John Sheahan was of the opinion that the Council had not thought through proposals for the disposals to Limerick Twenty Thirty.

“We’re going to have to pay a company to collect the rent and manage the properties because Limerick Twenty Thirty do not do that. And yet, we have a full Council staff in our social housing department doing the exact same job, collecting rents and maintaining properties. There’s a duplication there that isn’t value for money to our citizens. I think the cart is here before the horse,” Cllr Sheahan commented.

“There was a caveat that these properties be sold into the private market. Somebody has gone back to the Department and got that caveat removed so that we can dispose of these houses in a different fashion. If that caveat has been removed, why not just put these back into our own social stock and distribute them that way?”

Independent councillor Jerome Scanlan also felt the need for a workshop was essential and called for one to be organised promptly.

“The more I hear about this and the duplication, in terms of management, I think if we are involved as a Council we should be allocating them. We are creating, in my view, a monster. I would describe it as one in terms of managing this as you’re getting two separate tiers of management.

“None of this makes any sense. We should be looking after the people that need looking after first. We’re creating a monster,” he warned.

Cllr Scanlan also asked the Council executive if those in receipt of Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) would be eligible for the Mayor’s proposed scheme. However, he was informed that the eligibility is above social housing income.

Fianna Fáil councillor and Abbeyfeale native Francis Foley fully supported the call for a workshop to get answers.

“We should have all the facts and figure in front of us before we discuss this, so we know exactly what we are talking about. I fully support these six houses being given out to the public as soon as possible,” Cllr Foley said.

Cllr Galvin told his colleagues that, visiting the six properties in Abbeyfeale, he had never seen anything like them.

“I’ve never seen finer houses. They are top quality, top class. I propose a special meeting. We want to get these occupied. They are idle a number of years with people crying out for housing. The working couples in Abbeyfeale have nowhere to live. They are in dire need of housing.”

His proposal for a special meeting was seconded by Cllr Foley.

Mayor John Moran last year allocated €2.3million for trialling his Vienna Housing principles to repurpose derelict houses in Abbeyfeale. This he considered a project to road test new innovative approaches in his mayoral programme.

“I have tried to allocate funding to ideas which I consider to be transformative pilots. These will help show why the solution Limerick needs may need to be a new innovative approach and may not be suited to a ‘one-size-fits-all’ nationally applicable policy. I hope these pilots will help us unlock many more millions of funding in the remaining years of my mayoral term,” the executive mayor said at the time.

Fit out works are now due to be completed with the six properties brought to an appropriate standard by November and December this year. The Council said that it is also progressing the statutory approval processes required to facilitate the proposed transfer of the properties to Limerick Twenty Thirty.

Speaking to the Limerick Post after the Newcastle West area meeting, Cllr Galvin said that he was very supportive of what Mayor Moran is trying to achieve.

“Unfortunately, there were questions asked that the staff didn’t have answers to. We’re now looking for those answers at a briefing and if we’re satisfied we’re going to be looking for the Mayor’s proposal to go ahead. This idea is for people who don’t qualify for social housing so we need to try this project to see if it will work.

“We have to try something. There are six houses in Abbeyfeale currently lying vacant, and I, as chairperson of this municipal district, want them occupied sooner than later,” he said.

Cllr Francis Foley also said after the meeting that he was supportive of the Mayor’s plans but felt all the facts need to be put on the table.

“We need to thrash out the pros and cons of what the Mayor is proposing to do. It’s a new idea and it’s worth looking at it. I’m fully supportive of the Mayor,” he declared.

Following the debate in Newcastle West on the Abbeyfeale properties, City East representative Cllr Sarah Kiely flagged her concerns on the precedent being set if the disposal is passed.

“Why are the housing team working on a proposal not in line with local or national policy?” she asked.

The Fine Gael woman explained that she attended the Newcastle West municipal district meeting online to see what the area councillors’ thoughts were on Mayor Moran’s proposal.

“It was outlined that this proposal was in line with the mayoral programme, apparently. As a local authority, it is important we deliver housing, however I too like the majority of the Newcastle West councillors have concerns about how we are not adhering to national government policy,” she commented.

Cllr Kiely took the view that what is being proposed in Abbeyfeale is the “Vienna” housing model, which is not Council policy.

“Currently there is a proposal coming before us to dispose of residential properties to Limerick Twenty Thirty DAC. Not only the ones in Abbyfeale, but we learned from the meeting that there are also houses in Hyde Road, on the table for disposal too,” she claimed.

“This is highly irregular and councillors in the city have not been made aware of this. I understand from speaking to city residents that there is an offer on the table from ‘the Council’ to buy their properties. This is not accurate, it may be the mayoral fund that is being used for the purchase of these properties. In any case, this is not okay. It means these properties will not be available to the first time buyers who desperately want to buy a home.

“Doing back room deals is not the way this should be done. Transparency is important and this if true is not policy, and preventing people who want to buy a home from doing so,” Cllr Kiely concluded.