Minister visits sites of some 105 social and affordable housing units

David Flynn

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O'Brien visited six housing projects across South Westmeath on Friday to perform either the sod turning or official opening on a number of social and affordable housing units.

The Minister said the schemes when complete would yield a total of 105 social and affordable housing units in Athlone and Moate.

Minister O’Brien was accompanied by officials from his housing department, and many local politicians including Westmeath County Council Cathaoirleach, Cllr Liam McDaniel and Athlone Moate Municipal District Mayor Cllr. Louise Heavin.

The weather stayed warm, but breezy throughout the day, which began in Athlone near Ashdale and Tormey Villas with the sod turning at the new Greally Park.

Cathaoirleach Cllr Liam McDaniel welcomed Minister O’Brien, the Chief Executive of Westmeath County Council Pat Gallagher, and the directors and staff of Westmeath housing team, Minister O’Brien’s housing team and the contractors of Greally Park, OCC Construction.

“This development will consist of 24 homes - houses and apartments,” said Cathaoirleach Cllr McDaniel.

“There will be 10 two-bedroom houses, a single one-bedroom house and 13 apartments, made up of one and two bedrooms. This will address the housing needs for many people especially single households and older people. All the houses use the latest air to water heating technology.”

Among the local councillors at the Greally Park ceremony was Fine Gael’s Cllr John Dolan, whose late father, Sean, was a cousin of the author, Hanna Greally, after whom the new Athlone housing estate is named. The late Hanna, who died in 1987, wrote the book ‘Birds Nest Soup’, which told of traumatic times in a psychiatric hospital in the 1940s and 50s.

Westmeath County Council Chief Executive Pat Gallagher said: “I want to acknowledge the support from the Minister and his Department and officials furthering the delivery of social and affordable housing in the county, and without that support we wouldn’t be able to do the good work here today.

“I would like to praise the councillors for whom housing is a priority and they’ve always been very supportive of proposals and give helpful suggestions.”

The Chief Executive also praised the council’s own housing staff, directed by Mark Keaveney.

“I know the hard work you have put into projects to get them to this stage, the pride you can justifiably take in providing good homes for the people, that is what we are all about,” he said.

Mr Keaveney referred to the adjoining 33 houses which were built in the area in the past few years.

“You can see the pride the tenants have in their houses,” he said. “In Westmeath we plan to deliver, with the support of the Department of Housing and the government, over 900 social houses and 280 affordable houses as well. It’s a very ambitious plan.”

Minister Darragh O’Brien said that he has visited Athlone a few times over the past three years.

The Minister told the gathering that of the 105 new homes there was a split of 50/50 in social and affordable housing.

“I’d like to be able to come back and open these and I’m very impressed with the work done by the housing team in Athlone and Westmeath and the design that’s done in the houses as well,” said the Fianna Fail Minister. “It’s a pleasure to see a scheme come from its planning, and this is a wonderful scheme for 24 households where there is a real housing need.”

The Minister also officially opened 19 homes at Annsfield Court, Bellaugh, in Athlone. The homes are three-bedroomed and were provided by Westmeath County Council in partnership with M&M Prime Holdings by way of turnkey and were finished to a high standard and came with an A2 energy rating.

He also visited Bower Hill, which was the first of the local authority Affordable Purchase Schemes to be launched by the county council, in partnership with Ardent developers. There are 55 homes available on the site and there are 10 homes available to buy through the scheme. All 10 have been allocated.

Minister O’Brien then travelled to Coosan to the Dun an Ri housing development.

Cllr McDaniel told the Minister and the gathering that applications for these homes, under the Affordable Purchase Scheme, will open on Wednesday, August 16.

“The 21 homes available through Westmeath County Council’s Affordable Purchase Scheme will go a long way to help people in Athlone and Westmeath who are looking to buy their first home,” he said.

Minister O’Brien said the houses (developed by Castlestar Developments) looked to be a wonderful design and was a very significant site, which will comprise over 420 homes.

“It’s a really good mix of social, affordable and private homes and it’s great to see 21 through the Local Authority Purchase and this is what we are committed to do, design to the highest specification,” he said.

The Housing Minister said that there is a €4.5 billion investment this year in housing by the State and that unlocks other investments “by the private side,”.

“We will continue to invest over the next three years at least and give certainty to the sector and the developers,” said Minster O’Brien. “We are turning a corner and you can see that in Westmeath.”

The Housing Minister said that he hoped to be back in the area within twelve months to open the development.

Minister Darragh O’Brien also visited two housing projects in Moate along with the Cathaoirleach, Cllr. McDaniel and local Oireachtas members, Minister Peter Burke and Deputy Robert Troy and local councillors, including Mayor Louise Heavin, Cllr. Frankie Keena, Cllr. John Dolan, Cllr. Vinnie McCormack and Cllr. Tom Farrell.

At Gort an Locha in Moate, the Housing Minister and local politicians heard that there will be 22 homes made available to eligible applicants under the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme. These will consist of 15 three-bedroom homes and 7 four-bedroom homes, built by Fitzpatrick and Heavey Homes.

Applications for the Affordable Purchase Scheme in Gort an Locha will open online at 12 noon on Wednesday, July 26.

“We are delighted to officially launch this development, which will provide new and growing families in Moate and Westmeath with their first home, at an affordable price,” said Cathaorleach, Cllr. McDaniel.

Minister O’Brien said the Gort an Locha scheme will be supported to the tune of €1.65 million through Affordable Housing Funds. He commended the developers and the council for the housing estate construction.

“It’s great to see purchase prices from around €229,500 and it is good that people can see that affordable homes can be purchased and we have about 50 schemes across the country,” he said. “I commend everyone involved. It’s a wonderful location in Moate.”

The Housing Minister’s final visit to South Westmeath on Friday happened in Mount Carmel Drive, Moate, where he performed the official opening. Cllr. McDaniel said the scheme consisted of 4 two-bedroom and 5 three-bedroom homes, (developed by Faughnan Properties) which have all been offered out to families awaiting homes on the social housing list, including a family who have recently been homeless.

“This is near to home for me, and I went to school across the road and I’d like to welcome you all here and I’d like to thank the Minister for coming here today, to share with us, this great news story for the people of Moate and Athlone,” said the Cathaorleach.

Welcoming the sod turnings and official openings, Cllr Frankie Keena said: "This is a good news story as it will give hope to some of the numerous numbers of families who are looking for assistance in getting a home."

He said it was also important to point out that the developments at Bower Hill and Dun An Ri would also provide large numbers of private houses.

"In saying this I wish to point out that I am a realist and thus I am very aware of the large number of people on our housing list who are looking for a home, my heart goes out to all those families who are stressed and deeply worried in trying to find a house," stated Cllr Keena.

"Further to these announcements I am glad to say that there are a lot of other large-scale housing developments in the Athlone area that are at advanced stages of planning. It is expected that construction work on some of these will start this year," he said