Wexford councillor denied access to HAP inspection records amid fire safety concerns
Wexford PeopleA county councillor has been denied information regarding safety inspections of rental properties in Co Wexford including details of any fire hazards in the buildings. Councillor John Dwyer, who is the cathaoirleach of the New Ross Municipal District (NRMD), submitted a freedom of information (FOI) request in which he asked for copies of inspections carried out in properties rented out under the housing assistance payment (HAP) by Wexford County Council (WCC) but had his request subsequently denied.
Included in Cllr Dwyer’s request were details of all fire safety inspections carried out by council officials in HAP properties which is considered protocol as per the council’s agreement with landlords. Under the HAP scheme, a property must undergo a fire safety and minimum standards inspection by the local authority within eight months of HAP payments commencing.
Having previously raised concerns about the safety of some old buildings being used as apartments in New Ross, Cllr Dwyer felt the information should have been readily provided to him.
“I was informed that the information would identify landlords and tenants, but why could it not have been fully redacted with no names included?” he asked at the June meeting of the NRMD. “I have been told there has been no fire statistics compiled in relation to these inspections. Why not? These buildings are three and four storeys high. They don’t have fire escapes in the back. These are dangerous properties.”
“It depends on what the query was,” replied housing officer Martina Donoghue. “If you asked for the number of HAP inspections carried out I couldn’t see any issue with that. But as regards to personal information . . .”
“There was no request for personal information,” insisted Cllr Dwyer. “It appeared to me that WCC’s housing department did not want to give me the information. As an elected member who has knocked on thousands of doors I find that reprehensible.”
In June of last year Cllr Dwyer highlighted a potential issue with a number of buildings in Mary St, New Ross, saying, ““There are four buildings in Mary St that three years ago weren’t occupied but now every room is occupied, and we don’t even know how many people are living there. If there was a fire there are you confident people could safely exit those buildings? They were constructed 150 years ago and have very narrow hallways and stairwells.”