Council house empty for 14 years ‘a scandal’

A COUNCIL house in Cork aity has been left empty for at least 14 years despite more than 6,491 individuals and families in the city on a waiting list for a social home.

It is one of 5,601 council houses around the country lying empty as waiting lists almost doubled in the past five years to 80,000.

The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government said the average time for a local authority house to remain vacant is around 22 weeks.

But Fine Gael TD, Bernard Allen, said this property at Barrett’s Buildings has been empty for at least 14 years and is “a source of scandal” to those who are desperately awaiting a home.

A spokesperson for the council said this building is used as a storage depot. But Mr Allen believes this is a waste of resources because material could be stored elsewhere such as prefabricated buildings.

Secretary general of the Department of the Environment, Geraldine Tallon, recently said the level of empty housing stock around the country is “a source of concern”.

Just over 5% of the local authority housing stock of 107,000 is vacant and Ms Tallon admitted this is “an area where the local Government system can do better”.

While 25,500 families and individuals await housing in the four Dublin local authorities, more than 3,000 properties remain empty. Dublin City Council has more than 2,600 empty houses and plans to demolish 1,883 of these as part of regeneration projects.

Mr Allen, who is chairman of the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said empty houses lead to the “downgrading of areas” all around the country.

“There are blocks of houses closed up and shuttered, some of which have been wrecked by antisocial behaviour, and they are a scar on the face of areas.”

However, there is concern that local authorities do not have enough funds to repair damaged empty houses to allow people to move in and reduce waiting lists.