This article is from page 19 of the 2011-11-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 19 JPG
VACANT buildings in Kilrush are being vandalised and looted for any valuables inside, Kilrush Town Council was told, amid renewed called from members for the local authority to ramp up security measures at unused premises around the town.
The extent of the vandalism and looting problems were sounded out by Independent councillor Paul Moroney after Mayor of Kilrush, Cllr Ian Lynch sounded out his call for “a safety and condition survey of all vacant council property”.
“It’s unbelievable what’s going on in the town,” said Cllr Moroney. “I know that someone went into a house recently and heard a noise the there was someone up on top of the roof stealing the lead – I’m not talking about a vacant house.
“This was happening in broad daylight. We can talk about estate management plans all you like, but when there’s ignorance out there, it’s very hard to get over it. Lads that are doing the houses are being told that copper is the last thing that should go into the houses, because it will be stolen,” added Cllr Moroney.
To confront such problems, Cllr Lynch called on the council “to comply with our duty to prevent unauthorised access to property under our control”, while he also called for the convening of housing meeting to discuss estate and property management among dwelling owned by the town authority.
“People are going into houses and this should be stopped,” warned Cllr Lynch. “There are quite a lot houses that were boarded up, but are no longer boarded up. My fear is that children will be in those vacant dwelling and that there could be an accident and if there is we as a council will be liable. We need to focus on property management,” he added.
The mayor called for the implementation of an action plan to monitor the council’s vacant housing stock – part of this plan would see CCTV cameras focused on vacant houses, as well as having these properties monitored by FÁS maintenance workers and a community warden.