Occupy Gilmartin Road houses, says councillor

By TOM GILMORE UNLESS the 18 houses at Gilmartin Road, Tuam, where a €100,000 clean-up took place recently, are occupied, the same situation regarding dumping there will arise again within six months according to Cllr Tom McHugh. He has called on Galway Co Council to request the Department of the Environment to allow the houses to be re-let, as quickly as possible. These houses have become vacant over a period of time and, as local authority houses become vacant they are not permitted to be re-let until the insulation standards within the houses are upgraded to comply with current regulations. Cllr Tom McHugh is calling on the Department of the Environment to either provide the funding to up-grade the houses, or relax this rule. He says the properties in question are new houses that have been rebuilt over the past fifteen years and those that have not been rebuilt have been refurbished. 'Houses that are left unoccupied at this location and other urban locations attract vandalism, starting with the glass in the windows being broken and that is followed by a range of other anti-social behaviour. 'Many of the houses currently vacant now have the windows barred up with plywood,' says Cllr McHugh. The work that has recently been completed by Galway Co Council, has been done as a result of continuous representation, both from elected members of Tuam Town Council and Galway Co Council, and also from residents living at this location. 'The monies that have been used to clean up this mess is money Galway Co Council does not have and, as a result, other essential services provided by Galway County Council will have to be cut back.' Now in private accommodation Cllr Tom McHugh says that he is aware that, at least some of the residents who did reside at this location, are now in private rented accommodation in other estates throughout the town. Under the current policy of the Department of the Environment each local authority is mandated to rent houses from private landlords and to pay an agreed rent to the owners of the property and then, sub-let those same houses, at reduced rent that the county council tenants can afford to pay. For many who are on low income this is a beneficial scheme, however, Cllr Tom McHugh is of the opinion that this scheme is being abused by a small minority and as a result needs to be tightened up. 'Galway Co Council has a sizeable stock of houses in Tuam, all those houses need to be in a habitable condition so as to provide the maximum amount of accommodation for people on the housing list,' he concluded.