Significant breaches of tenancy at Wexford housing estate leads to questions over council’s housing policy
Wexford PeopleSignificant breaches of tenancy at a Co Wexford estate have been alleged, including a man throwing empty bottles of whiskey out of his apartment’s window, has led one councillor to question the actions of the local authority’s housing allocation unit.
Councillor John Dwyer made the comments at the recent New Ross Municipal District meeting, where he also claimed the man, who is of African descent and still living in the Ard na Bhile estate, has been accused of “inviting children into his car”.
Questioning the actions of Wexford County Council’s (WCC) housing allocation unit Cllr Dwyer, the cathaoirleach of the New Ross Municipal District (NRMD), said some tenants were being given houses without sufficient garda clearance.
“There have been significant breaches of tenancy at that estate,” he said at the May meeting of the NRMD. “There’s been a Nigerian man inviting children into his car. And there was a separate individual who was driven out by the residents for online grooming incidents which occurred over a 15-year period. I fail to understand how these people were allocated houses.”
Defending the council’s allocation policies, housing officer Martina Donoghue insisted that every applicant was “sent for garda clearance” before being allocated a property.
Cllr Dwyer contested this statement.
“The gardaí can not give clearance for someone from Nigeria who arrived in Ireland two years ago. They can’t give a five-year garda clearance in that situation. This guy was drinking whiskey and throwing the bottles out of his top-floor apartment.”
Cathaoirleach of New Ross Municipal District, Cllr John Dwyer. © Mary Browne
Aware of the tenant in question, Ms Donoghue said her understanding was that he “was in the country longer than two years” but that in some instances WCC would ask housing applicants to provide their own garda clearance “from whatever country they arrive from”.
This response merely emitted laughter from Cllr Dwyer.
This discussion came two days after Cllr Michael Sheehan had raised the issue of anti-social behaviour in Ard na Bhile at the county meeting of WCC. And he focused on the council’s apparent unwillingness to liaise with tenants in the estate.
“I suspect the tenant liaison officer (TLO) hasn’t been seen there since the keys were given out,” he said. “The armed response unit has a higher attendance rate there than our TLO. When we have new estates like this it’s important the TLO has a relationship with the families and that tenants brought in from other parts of the country have an obligation to behave themselves and there’s consequences when they don’t.
“What engagement is there between WCC and the gardaí when complaints about anti-social behaviour are made?” Cllr Sheehan asked. “My understanding is that WCC hasn’t acted on any of the complaints despite some of them being quite serious. If this is how we’re handling new estates we’re going to be in a lot of trouble over the next 5-10 years.”
Insisting that the council’s TLO acted upon any incidents reported to them, director of housing Carolyne Godkin said if it was an issue of a “criminal nature” than the tenants should contact the guards.
Yet, according to Cllr Dwyer, many of those living in Ard na Bhile are reluctant to contact the guards lest they become embroiled in a case and be forced to testify in court.
“I had a resident contact me to say her neighbour had knocked on her door and she was covered in blood,” he recalled. “She asked could I ring the gardaí on her behalf so that she wouldn’t have to be involved in the case.
“However, the gardaí then identified me as the person who had made the call, it should have been anonymous. So everyone in that estate knows if they ring the gardaí about anti-social behaviour in that estate they may be identified too.”