LOCAL authority houses in Old Military Barracks which haven’t been painted for over ten years have been described as “terrible”, with calls being made on the council to take action.
The issue was raised at a recent meeting of the Ennis Municipal District where Councillor Pat Daly told how residents of Old Military Barracks on the Kilrush Road have asked for houses 19, 20 and 21 to be painted. An outdoor stairs adjacent to the houses also need to be painted, he said.
The council agreed that a make-over of the outside of the houses “would enhance the general area”, however there is not enough funds in the budget the meeting was told.
Councillor Daly commented, “These houses are terrible, particularly these three.” He suggested that if there is no budget that the council could pay for the paint and the residents would carry out the painting.
Tony Neville, Senior Executive Engineer, stated, “No.s 19, 20 and 21 Old Military Barracks, Ennis are Local Authority owned dwellings hence responsibility is within the Social Directorate. I agree an uplift of the external facade of these properties would enhance the general area. However, our annual Housing Maintenance or Estate Management budgets are not sufficient to deal with such works. There are numerous estates within Ennis and countywide where similar requests have been made. An increased budget for Estate Management has been requested and any works will be prioritised accordingly.”
Councillor Mark Nestor commented that the residents are “quite proud of their area and it’s an awful pity. Finances are short, I accept that, but maybe we could think outside of the box to come up with a solution. Anything we can do to help them along the way would be welcome.”
Councillor Johnny Flynn described the council’s response as “unacceptable”. He said that the Old Military Barracks buildings are history and the council have an obligation to the tenants to keep them in proper order.
Councillor Mary Howard stated, “These people are very houseproud, but they don’t have the finances or capacity to do this themselves. We need to try and identify a scheme so we can supply the paint. There has to be some way to facilitate this.”