Scumtown, County Clare – home to disruptive neighbours?

THE Government should consider introducing legislation whereby anti-social tenants could be housed in a “scum town”, a Clare local representative has suggested.

 

The Mayor of Amsterdam revealed plans last month to move those engaged in intimidating or violent behaviour towards neighbours to new housing units, made in some cases from converted shipping containers. The areas in which these would be located were subsequently dubbed scum villages, where the worst offenders would spend a minimum of six months. Those who remain unreformed would face eviction.

Fine Gael Councillor Joe Arkins mooted the idea of creating scum towns here in Ireland at a county council meeting on Monday.
“It sounds drastic but we are at a stage where something drastic must be done in this country,” Councillor Arkins said.

The Ruan man made the comments during a discussion on a proposal by fellow Fine Gael Councillor Johnny Flynn.
Councillor Flynn had put forward a motion asking that Clare County Council “call for the strengthening of ‘bad neighbours and bad tenants’ sections of private tenancy legislation currently being drafted”.

“Anti-social behaviour in estates, whether private or local authority, is destroying people’s lives and needs also to be addressed by a range of effective legislation including terms of access or withdrawal of State benefits and so on,” he said.

Councillor Flynn pointed out, “There is legislation going through the Dáil. The Residential Tenancy Act is being amended.” He said there are “people in this constituency, who are suffering from neighbours from hell” and that the council should call on the Oireachtas to strengthen the law relating to it.

Fianna Fáil Councillor Michael Kelly claimed, “People are being terrorised because of late-night, anti-social behaviour beside them”. He said the issue “needs to be dealt with and faced up to”.

Councillor Joe Arkins suggested the creation of a scum town be considered because “there are landlords not managing their tenants but there are some tenants that neither God nor man could manage,” adding “this is something that the Government needs to address”.

Meelick Councillor Cathal Crowe said he believed a “surcharge” on rents should be investigated by the council in the case of people who “breach the code of conduct in local authority housing”. He called on the council to “hit them where it hurts, in the pockets”.

Independent Councillor Gerry Flynn added, “This is not just an urban problem but it is a rural problem too,” while fellow Independent and Shannon

Councillor Patricia McCarthy expressed concern “that anti-social behaviour is being portrayed as if it only involved people in local authority housing or on benefits”. She said this is not the case and it “goes across all sections of society”.

Councillor Johnny Flynn agreed with Councillor McCarthy and said another important issue to consider is the protection of children, who may be living with those who are engaged in anti-social behaviour.

Clare County Council will now contact the Minister for Justice and the Minister for the Environment calling for parts of the Residential Tenancy Act dealing with “bad neighbours and bad tenants” to be strengthened.