Longford local election candidates clash on housing

A war of words has broken out between local election candidates on the issue of housing.

The conflict arose after sitting Fine Gael councillor Paraic Brady claimed that Longford County Council “delivered more for social housing” than any other local authority in the country.

Statements from Sinn Féin's Barry Campion, and People Before Profit's Dave Smyth called into question the local authority's record.

In a notice of motion at the April council meeting, Cllr Brady called on Longford County Council to make available details of houses proposed for social housing in each municipal area for 2024 and 2025.

Also read: Fantastic line up of events in Longford to mark Bike Week 2024

The Fine Gael representative sought a breakdown of housing waiting lists and how many social housing applications have been received to date.

“The electorate have been misinformed about our delivery on housing,” said Cllr Brady by way of explaining his motion.

He was told that in 2024 Longford County Council will deliver 19 houses in the Longford MD, 24 in the Ballymahon MD and 23 in the Granard MD. Councillors were told that in 2023 the local authority reduced vacancy rates from 7% to down to 2%.

However Barry Campion, the Sinn Féin candidate vying for a seat in the Granard Municipal District electoral area, said Longford people are being “misinformed by Longford County Councillors and its elected representatives”.

Mr Campion challenged the council's data saying: “Longford County Council have one of the slowest deliveries of social housing, the longest turnaround times in between social housing tenancies and some of the lowest outputs of housing units in recent years.”

He maintains that in Granard and Drumlish “entire rows of houses lie either vacant or derelict” without any action for a number of years.

The Sinn Féin hopeful says the issue is causing much distress in North Longford: “Believe me if Cllr Brady and his colleagues feel offended by the truth and hard facts, how does he feel about the harrowing stories that come from the hard working families of North Longford who face imminent homelessness?”

“On Saturday 28th of April there were 10 houses for rent in all of Co Longford, alongside housing lists that are often a decade long. The truth is there is not a future for many in this county,” he said.

Also read: Fórsa members serve notice of industrial action at Longford's St Christopher's Services

Adding his voice to the debate People Before Profit (PBP) candidate for Longford Municipal District, Dave Smyth, slammed the government record on housing: “Cllr Paraic Brady recently tried, outlandishly, to claim that Longford County Council is at the top of the class when it comes to providing housing in Ireland.

“Even if this is true, which I doubt, he is trying to take credit for being at the top of an embarrassing list of failures on housing across the entire island after decades of his party imposing neoliberal policies that force public housing needs into the greedy hands of private developers,” he said.

PICTURES | Glitz and glamour at Longford GAA and ladies football gala awards ceremony

Mr Smyth said the issue must be addressed with urgency: “It's clear to me that this is now a human rights issue and urgent action is needed. They [Longford county council] must control and reduce rents; they must reinstate the no-fault eviction ban.

“They must acquire much more than the mandatory 10% of private developments for social and affordable homes and crucially they must establish and ramp-up a state construction company with the capacity to deliver the tens of thousands of public and affordable homes that we urgently need.”