Wexford councillor outs himself as a landlord during budget meeting – ‘We shouldn’t be doing anything to help you’

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

The revelation that there is a landlord in their midst has been met with disdain and gasps of dismay by councillors in Wexford’s County Hall. While he may not be the only registered landlord among Wexford’s 34 councillors, Pat Barden is, to date, the only one who has chosen to raise issues specific to the profession during a meeting.

He did so, perhaps inadvertently, at the annual budget meeting of Wexford County Council (WCC).

“I had to go into a rental property and dump a lot of stuff from it, there were five settees on the premises, two outside and three inside,” he began. “Then I had to bring it to the waste management facility in Holmestown to dispose of them, it cost me €500. Is there any way those costs can be reduced, perhaps a sliding scale if you are a frequent visitor? €500 would nearly have bought me a new suite of furniture.”

These problems, as they were, did not go down well with his colleagues.

“We’re not here for the landlords,” said a clearly unimpressed Cllr Aoife Rose O’Brien.

With pantomime oohs and ahs coming from the gallery, Cllr Biddy Walsh could barely conceal her disgust.

“Most people in Wexford are not in this kind of position so we shouldn’t be doing anything to help you,” she said.

Director of services Eamonn Hore offered little solace for the beleaguered landlord.

“The €500 wouldn’t cover the cost of us disposing of those items,” he said. “We have no intention of reducing the cost, it would be twice as much elsewhere.”