Six houses vacant in one Portlaoise estate with five owned by council
Laois councillor calls for faster turnaround and action on a derelict house
A large Portlaoise council housing estate has six vacant houses, with five of them belonging to Laois County Council.
The council was urged to speed up renovation of their houses, and to intervene with the sixth, to end reported dereliction and vandalism.
Sinn Féin Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley tabled a motion on the Knockmay houses, to the December meeting of the Portlaoise Municipal District.
“I'm concerned that it's taking so long for our housing stock to be relet.
“One is a private house that was derelict, and unfortunately being vandalised. There are lots of problems in the area because of this property.
“Regarding the five council houses, three are in the one area, they are boarded up for a long time. We need to put the pressure on and get them tenanted,” Cllr Dwane Stanley said.
In reply, housing officer Georgina Ireland said that two of their five properties will be relet within weeks.
Two more are getting energy retrofit works as well as reletting works, and will be ready for relets in January.
The fifth council house will take longer however.
“One property was recently surrendered and assessed relet works issued for pricing. There is a considerable amount of works to be done and this will be ready for letting by the end of Q1 (March) 2024,” the officer reported.
The council said that it is unaware of any other of its Knockmay houses being vacant.
Cllr Dwane Stanley said the council should be responsible and take action on privately owned derelict houses in council built estates.
“One elderly person told me that children are getting in there. We all know what would happen, it will be vandalised and cost more then to fix,” she warned.
Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald supported the motion, saying it's “just not fair” on the people living next door.
Cllr John Joe Fennelly said relets seem to be taking longer, and all three suggested hiring more staff to do the works.
The large estate is across the road from another planned council housing site that is facing more demolition construction delays. Read about Radharc Darach here.