Published: Wednesday, 28th April, 2010 5:00pm

Money for leasing, not for building - council

by Tom Carron

Cllr. Pauline McCauley.
Pic by==: 97

Cavan County Council should purchase private houses at a reduced cost rather than be leasing those properties, it was suggested by Sinn Féin councillor Pauline McCauley at the April meeting of the local authority.

Claiming that there was a move away from house construction by the local authority to that of leasing, the Ballyjamesduff electoral area member said that it would be more beneficial if the council bought those houses at a reduced rate rather than leasing them, which seemed "to be a case of bailing out the developers again".

The suggestion that the council should purchase rather than lease was also advocated by a number of councillors. However, director of services, Joe McLoughlin, informed the meeting that the option for leasing was there at the moment as funding was available for that purpose rather than for house building.

The matter arose out of a discussion of the council's capital programme. In a circular to councillors, the County Manager, Jack Keyes, revealed the spending on council programmes over the next three years. Under the heading of housing construction, the council plans to spend €2.61m in 2010, €1.3m in 2011 and €0.98m in 2012. This outlay will be financed through grant aid and proceeds from the sale of local authority houses. Under the heading of voluntary housing, it is planned to spend €3m between now and the end of 2012. Grants and subsidised loans will cover the cost here.

In terms of remedial work the council aim to spend in total €1.2m over the three years - a grant and the proceeds of the sale of local authority houses is to finance this work. The council is budgeting to spend €4.6m on essential repairs and modification works for disabled persons over the next three years.

In relation to retrofitting energy upgrades (insulation and energy conservation), the council is spending a total of €1.8m over the three years.

Under the national primary/national secondary roads programme for the county, a total spend of €30.9m is aimed for between now and 2012. The target figure for 2010 is €5.5m, €14.8m for 2011 and €10.63m for 2012. The Belturbet bypass is due to commence in 2011 and will absorb a fair element of this funding. There is a 100% grant from central government for this work.

In relation to public water and sewerage schemes, the council hope to secure a whopping €42.76m between now and 2012. Schemes due for completion here include water schemes in Cavan, Ballyconnell, Cootehill, Belturbet and Kingscourt, as well as sewerage schemes in Kingscourt and Cavan.

Commenting on the funding earmarked for retrofitting energy upgrades, Cllr. Sean McKiernan (FG) was disappointed that the council hadn't more funding for spending in this field.

Referring to the essential repair grant scheme, Cllr. McCauley described it as a very important scheme for many people. Many tenants were asking when their work was being carried out, she stated.

Fine Gael whip Andrew Boylan complemented the council executive for the marvellous work being done but there were vibes coming from the Departments of Environment and Finance that there would be substantial cuts to the council's allocation in 2011 and 2012.

However, Fianna Fáil's Sean Smith defended the amount of funding coming to local authorities from central government in recent years. He accepted that it was the job of councillors to seek further funding and he supported the suggestion of Cllr. McCauley that the council should buy private houses instead of leasing them.

Cllr. Peter McVitty (FG) queried the current position as regards the building of rural cottages. He was worried about moves to have people reside in towns and villages and not in their own rural areas.

His party colleague Maura Maguire Lynch suggested that the council should place an advertisement in The Anglo-Celt explaining the essential repairs grant scheme and what level of progress was being made.

Cllrs. Des Boylan (FG), John O'Hare (FG) and Danny Brady (FF) also supported the proposition that the council should buy rather than lease private houses. Fianna Fáil whip Danny Brady praised the spending proposed on rural water programme, while the essential repairs and disabled persons grants were also quite substantial, he said.

Cllr. Madeleine Argue (FG) submitted that more money should be provided for remedial work but Blacklion Cllr. John Paul Feeley (FF) described the funding for essential repairs and disabled persons grants as quite substantial.

Both Des Maguire, the council's head of finance and Joe McLoughlin, director of services, replied to the points made. Mr. Maguire said that the retro fitting upgrade programme commenced in 2009 and there was a significant increase in the allocation for 2010. It was intended to undertake significant work over the next four years in this area, he said.

Mr. McLoughlin said that while the disabled persons grants were substantially increased, there was a dramatic uptake of the scheme. The council were finding it difficult to match the monies the Department is giving under the scheme.

In relation to the building of rural cottages, Mr. McLoughlin stated that the council sought funding in respect of four cottages and those were approved the previous week. In terms of the council's discussions with the Department they were lucky. However, he would hold out no great prospect for rural dwellings into the future.

As regards the leasing of houses rather than buying, Joe McLoughlin informed the councillors that leasing was an option that was available at the moment. The council were being given money to lease accommodation from the private sector - they were not being given money to build, he said.

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