A home at last – residents rejoice at moving into new housing schemes in Mayo
The official opening of 66 new houses across two developments in Mayo took place on Friday.
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne TD, officially opened the new estates at Murrevagh Close in Mulranny and Bog Road Demesne in Westport.
Murrevagh Close is made up of 16 social homes, eight three-bedroom and eight two-bedroom units.
Bog Road Demesne comprises a total of 50 units, including 45 social and five affordable homes. In total, the development consists of 36 three-bedroom houses and 14 two-bedroom houses.
These new estates have provided much-needed secure housing for the county.
Zita Mulcahy is moving into one of the new homes in Murrevagh Close in three weeks with her family. She grew up in Mulranny.
"I grew up in a house that is just boarding this new estate, my parents still live there, my mother turned 80 this year, so it's lovely to be so close to them," she said.
"I have two children who attend the local school here, and there is a lovely sense of community here. All the neighbours are lovely, I would know a lot of them. It's nice to have the security of a house here where I grew up."
In Westport, families have already moved in and are settling into their new community.
Among them are Sarah Hoban and Laura Gannon, who said it felt amazing to move into the estate. Both have young children and are making their new houses feel like home.
"It's a great location for the kids, we are close to the schools and Westport House too," said Laura, whose children attend a nearby creche.
Both agreed that the neighbourhood offered a safe and convenient environment for their children, and they were delighted to receive confirmation earlier this year that they would be moving into new homes.
"In January, we got the letters saying we got the homes, so that was amazing, and then we moved in March," said Sarah, "My children attend the school that is right across the road, they love it there."
The new estates are a welcome addition to Mayo's housing supply, but the county has faced challenges meeting targets.
Between 2022 and 2024, social housing delivery fell short by 23pc.
At the time, Tom Gilligan, the Director of Housing, explained that the council had met its targets; however, the shortfall came from Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs).
Under Housing for All, councils must deliver 60pc of new social homes and AHBs 40pc,
"In Mayo, our target was 395 houses. The council itself, and through turnkey, delivered 63pc, a total of 250. The AHB sector delivered 38 units," Mr Gilligan said at the time.
It was noted that there is low-level activity from the larger AHBs in Mayo and other northwestern counties.
Minister Browne acknowledged that point today and said he had identified counties where AHB activity is low, adding that the department is aiming to move interests towards the northwestern counties.
He added, however, that this transition will not happen overnight; it will take some time.
"We want to get AHBs more focused on those counties where they are not based. I have identified a number of counties where that is the case," he said and added this is partly due to where larger populations are located, but also because the larger AHBs are based in cities like Cork and Dublin.
He explained that the Department of Housing is moving towards a plan-led approach to building.
"Where we have been funding AHBs to deliver as much housing as possible, they have been, in turn, focused on working with large developers who already have planning in place, maybe buying properties of plan," he explained.
"Whereas we at the department want to look at a more plan-led approach where we get AHBs delivering in Mayo and in the northwest,
"So rather than the department and the taxpayer being price takers, we actually lead on that delivery and on working with those AHBs."
Alongside social housing, affordable homes remain a priority. Just five affordable homes were included in the two new estates, with 107 social homes delivered in Mayo between 2022 and 2024, compared to 304 social homes.
The Minister said the Government must ensure housing is available across the economic spectrum: "I want to make sure we deliver homes for people on whatever economic spectrum they may be on,
"Whether that's social, affordable, purchase or helping people to buy their own homes. Whatever the scale may be," he said.
He stressed the importance of local authorities zoning additional land to accelerate housing delivery.
"We want [local authorities] to move quickly, and those that move quickly will get greater support from the Department of Housing. Those who don't zone as quickly as they can are going to be waiting for support," he said.
"Where the land is zoned, they will get the infrastructure. We can't afford to put infrastructure where land is not zoned, and then where the infrastructure is put, we will get homes."
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.