There was a heated exchange at this month’s Tipperary County Council meeting over issues with housing and homelessness.
Issues with the voids system, vacant homes, and dereliction are just some of the problems that were raised and lead to a disagreement between he Chief Executive and a councillor.
During the June meeting of Tipperary county council Pat English raised the issue of homelessness in the county under AOB.
He called for an emergency meeting to be organised something that was echoed by Mary Hanna Hourigan, who went on to say that money was being “wasted” by the council on doing up council homes to get them back on the market.
She questioned the voids systems and the time it took to bring vacant homes back on the market.
However, CE Joe McGrath described her remarks as “untrue” and ” unfair” when so much work has been done by the housing sector and the problems with homelessness locally come down to national deficiencies.
He informed the councillor that he rejected her claims as Tipperary county council has always exceeded its housing targets.
Councillor Hourigan later apologised to the CEO, and the executive asked councillors to give the director of housing an opportunity to speak to the members.
The matter ended with Cathaoirleach Marie Murphy informing councillors that any issues for AOB should be flagged prior to the meeting to allow for appropriate reaction and representation.