Council aware tenants 'may have histories' amid calls for crackdown on antisocial behaviour in Dundalk
Fine Gael councillor for Dundalk Robert Nash called for council tenants to have a one year "probationary period" to deter from antisocial behaviour
Louth County Council have said they are aware some social housing tenants "have histories" amid calls to tackle antisocial behaviour in Dundalk.
The comments came at the May meeting of the Dundalk Municipal District in which Cathaoirleach, Cllr Robert Nash said he and other local councillors had received emails from residents of private estates where units have recently been purchased by Louth County Council.
He said residents feel as though the local authority are "not doing enough background checks" on social housing tenants.
"People are only moving into these houses and straight away we’re getting calls a week later that there’s been antisocial behaviour," he said.
Cllr Nash questioned if there is a "probationary period" in place for tenants.
"For new tenants that are getting a property, is there a probationary period for them when they go into that house and should there be?
Because we’ve got an lot of antisocial behaviour going on and it’s something that we should be looking at."
"If people are going into a house they’re on probation for a year. You might say that they’re going to behave themselves for a year and then all of a sudden you’ve got antisocial behaviour but it’s some sort of deterrent. Something needs to be put in place," he said.
A spokesperson for Louth County Council said there is no probationary period but said the local authority does carry out background checks.
"We vet tenants before they come in. We do Garda checks, and depending on that we may defer your application for a period of time, but we do do checks on all our tenants. But we do have to house people and they can have histories," he said.
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