Councillor claims Kilkenny community ‘absolutely flooded with itinerants’

A South Kilkenny community has been ‘flooded with itinerants’ by the housing authorities, a Wexford councillor has declared.

The accusation was made during a joint meeting of councillors from South Kilkenny and Wexford.
Councillors representing the Callan Thomastown district, which includes Rosbercon on the Kilkenny-Wexford border, met with councillors from New Ross municipal district to discuss matters relating to the common area between the districts.
While part of New Ross town, Rosbercon is on the Kilkenny-Wexford border and much of it is administered by Kilkenny.

There was a tense discussion about housing issues, with the New Ross councillors demanding to know what plans Kilkenny County Council has to allocate housing in the Rosbercon area.
“Have ye much coming into the area? What have ye available for tenancy? Have ye done any allocations recently?” Cllr John Fleming asked at the start of the meeting.

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Director of Services Mary Mulholland, who has responsibility for the Kilkenny County Council Housing Section, gave a clear explanation of the situation, and refuted some ‘rumours’ about housing relocations.

There are currently about 20 people on the Kilkenny County Council housing list in the New Ross area, Ms Mulholland said.

The last allocation made by Kilkenny County Council in Rosbercon was of 10 houses in Castlehyde Park. Because of an imbalance in the list in that area, with the vast majority of applicants from one ethnic group, to ensure a social mix Ms Mulholland said she co-ordinated with Wexford County Council. Three tenants were allocated houses from the Wexford list.

Ms Mulholland told the Wexford councillors that if Kilkenny was to have a large housing allocation again, in that area, she would consult with them.

Some applicants to Kilkenny County Council “only want Rosbercon,” she said. The only way to deal with this is for both authorities to work together, Ms Mulholland said.

Kilkenny County Council owns one site in Rosbercon, at Raheen Road. The council had in mind to build a large number of houses but there is not the demand in that area, Ms Mulholland said, so they are looking at a small number.

“We hear rumours that a lot of people are moving into the area for social housing, but that is not the case,” she stressed.

Ms Mulholland said a planning application for six private houses that had been refused by Kilkenny County Council was later approved by An Bord Pleanala, at Castlehyde Park.

Chairman of New Ross municipal district, Cllr Michael Sheehan, asked about the possibility of a joint development with one of the local authorities taking the lead.

“Our site is not a big site, we won’t be building a lot of houses at any time,” Ms Mulholland said. There could have been 14 units on the site with high density apartments, she explained, but this is not suitable in the location, which is semi-rural. So they intend to build seven units.

“There is a lot of opportunity to develop that area, we are still looking to get more land,” she said.
Kilkenny County Council’s objective is to work with the developer of housing on the site, who owns the land, and ‘sort out that whole section’.

When Kilkenny has a plan for the area it will be shared with New Ross, she added.
A number of families on the housing list for the area are ‘very high priority’ with specific needs, Ms Mulholland said, and the council is seeking the right site for this.

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“We are not proposing relocating people from Ferrybank or Slieverue to the area. Our housing need in that area is very local,” Ms Mulholland said.
In reply to Cllr Sheehan she reiterated that Kilkenny County Council have no other housing plans in the area but are actively looking for sites. They would rather do a few small developments, she added.

Cllr Anthony Connick said this was ‘totally different to what I’m hearing’. He said he lives in the area and told Ms Mulholland she had a ‘totally different picture in her head’.
He said he was looking at it “from a spatial strategy point of view” and it is “absolutely flooded down there with itinerants”.

Cllr Connick went on to say that “we have a lot of social problems” in the area, including dumping at the back of houses.

There are 36 houses in the estate in question. The local authority has 10 houses in the development Ms Mulholland said.

She agreed there is dumping at the back of the site and antisocial behaviour. It may be people living in the estate but that needs to be investigated, she said.

“I am being straight here, not listening to any ‘he said, she said’,” Ms Mulholland said. “I don’t understand the ‘flooded’ comment either.”

She told the meeting that Kilkenny County Council officials have met the developer of the site a number of times to discuss an alternative site for a proposed playground, because the first area proposed is in the middle of the area that has not been developed.
A site not linked to the estate was “completely useless” as it had no road link.

Cllr Connick’s suggestion that the nearest playground to the houses is in Mullinavat was answered with “I would have thought it was New Ross”.

She told Cllr Sheehan that land could not be bought by compulsory purchase for the playground because it was not needed for houses.
“We’re just trying to figure out how to tidy the place up,” she said.

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Plans for the site had been expected last summer, from the private developer, but that did not materialise, the meeting heard.

On the proposal of Cllr Sheehan it was agreed to set up a joint sub-committee, with two councillors and an official from each local authority, to seek a meeting with the developer. He said they should come together to stress the strategic importance of the site to both areas.
Cllr Connick said it was a “very important site.” It was also described as a “small site” by Ms Mulholland.

Note: Pavee Point, in the publication 'Irish Travellers Challenging the Myths,' explains that the use of the word 'itinerant' is an offensive term for Travellers.