Wicklow excluded from funding for housing refurbishment works

By Hugh O'Farrell Walsh, The Wicklow People

Housing Minister James Browne has confirmed that Wicklow County Council has been excluded from funding for regeneration works on their housing stock.

The Department of Housing currently supports ongoing activity and projects under the Social Housing National Regeneration Programme in the cities of Dublin, Cork and Limerick and the counties of Sligo and Kerry.

However, Wicklow is not currently one of the counties which comes under the programme with no payments made to the local authority over the past five years.

When the Department of Housing appeared before the Public Accounts Committee in June this year, figures obtained by committee chair Wicklow Sinn Fein TD John Brady showed the department’s €12 million budget for regeneration works remained largely untouched.

The figures also revealed that of a separate €50 million budget for estate regeneration, the department only spent €37.2 million.

The Wicklow TD pointed to estates like Hillview in Wicklow town, which recently featured prominently on RTÉ’s Prime Time, as clear examples of the urgent need for funding.

“Hillview has faced ongoing issues since the houses were first built in the early 2000s, yet the Government continues to turn its back on the residents,” he said.

“Some years ago, funding was approved for regeneration works in Ashlawn Court in Fassaroe, Bray, but only 18 out of 248 homes were completed because the remainder of the funding was never granted.”

Deputy Brady also highlighted serious structural problems in parts of Farrankelly in Delgany, where some houses are plagued with dampness and require urgent remedial works.

Council staff in the Greystones Municipal District are currently carrying out detailed studies of those properties, with a review due to be finished by the early autumn.

“These are not luxury upgrades,” he said.

“These are essential works to ensure that people live in safe, healthy homes. Wicklow County Council cannot provide these works if they are not given the necessary funding.”

Brady has called on the Department of Housing to allocate the proper funding that allows for regeneration projects to take place.

“There is no excuse for leaving money unspent while families are left to live in substandard housing.”

“I will continue to fight to ensure that estates in Wicklow which are in dire need of regeneration works receive the funding and resources to make that happen. No tenant should be forced to live in substandard housing.” he added.