Council denies claim 149 houses are lying vacant

IT IS “misleading” to suggest 149 council houses in Kerry are vacant, a spokesman for Kerry County Council has said.

Figures produced by the Department of the Environment show councils in Kerry, including town councils in Tralee, Killarney and Listowel, have the fifth highest number of unoccupied houses nationally.

Chairman of the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee Bernard Allen TD recently called for an inquiry into the national situation, estimating that €1 billion of local authority property around the country was unused, while waiting lists lengthened.