58 tenants left owing thousands in rent following council cock-up

Several council house tenants have been left thousands of euro in arrears on their rent because of a cock-up by the local authority.

Louth County Council recently carried out a rent review of all its tenants with question marks emerging in 58 cases over what should have been paid and what was actually paid after what was described as being a “misinterpretation” of the rent scheme.

In one of the cases a woman who believed she was in credit on her account is now €13,000 in arrears.

There were 500 cases from this summer’s review where more money was owed to the council than had been originally thought. It was revealed at Monday’s County Council meeting that 58 of those were the council’s own fault while the remaining 442 were due to undeclared incomes, with one tenant owing more than €20,000 as a result of this.

The rent arrears owed to the council have increased by 65% in just under a year from €1,951,000 in July 2014 to €3,215,000 in August this year.

The matter in relation to the 58 is solely in relation to Dundalk, with the former town council interpreting things wrongly when calculating rents. In Drogheda the rents were properly calculated.

Cllr Maria Doyle

Commenting on the matter on the Michael Reade Show on LMFM yesterday, Cllr Maria Doyle of Fine Gael hit out at the council’s handling of the matter.

“There’s a few problems here that we need to look at,” she said.

“Firstly the council has a poor record on debt collection in general, not just in terms of rents but rates. In my opinion they haven’t done anything really yet to tackle the rent arrears problem and it’s increasing every month.”

Cllr Doyle said rent reviews needed to be carried out more regularly.

“I’ve been told they hadn’t carried out a rent review in three years and really it should be an annual review.

“There’s another issue that if you have undeclared income you should let the council know but that information would be captured if the rent reviews were done more regularly.”

Also speaking on LMFM, Cllr Mark Dearey of the Green Party said he had sympathy for the 58 tenants affected by the council’s error.

Cllr Mark Dearey

“It’s utterly unwelcome news for the 58 households who find themselves in arrears not due to any deceit on their part but because of an error in how the legislation was interpreted in Dundalk.

“The problem seems to primarily in Dundalk and dates back quite a period because you don’t build up those sort of arrears in a year. It could take many years to build up.

“At the very minimum people have been getting undercharged through no fault of their own. I asked why previous county managers had not seen this trend between the two towns and I was taken aback by the reaction I got but, leaving that aside, the question remains how long is this going on for and why did nobody spot it? I think those questions need to be answered.”

Cllr Dearey said those affected shouldn’t have their lives “impaired” by the council error, pointing out they may now struggle to get the likes of a credit union loan because of the debt against their name.

“The 58 households in this particular bind, payment plans may be put in place for them but nevertheless they have debt against their names now.

“There may well be a challenge through the Ombudsman from one of these households and it seems to me they would have a strong case.

“A writedown won’t be considered but some of this can’t be paid. There are people who take the council as a soft touch and won’t pay in any shape or form but other people do need assistance,” he said.

Gardaí investigating after councillor’s dogs are poisoned on grounds of County Hall

Marianne Butler

A local councillor’s dogs were allegedly poisoned while out for a walk on the grounds of County Hall on Saturday.

Gardaí are investigating the incident after it was reported to them by Green Party councillor Marianne Butler.

She told LMFM that she was out for a walk with two of the family dogs on Saturday when they consumed some sardines that had been placed on the edge and side of the pond.

A short time later the two dogs became ill and were taken to the vet. One of the dogs later died while the other had to have its stomach pumped.

In a statement to the radio station, Louth County Council said it doesn’t have a policy or practice of laying poison in or around County Hall. It also said it has been made aware of an alleged incident and the matter is being investigated.

Noonan rejects Dundalk’s bid to be included in Living City Initiative

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has poured cold water on Dundalk’s hopes of being included in the Living City Initiative.

A motion was put forward by local councillor Mark Dearey at the Dundalk Municipal District Committee’s annual general meeting earlier this month seeking to have the initiative – which focuses on the regeneration of retail and commercial districts in the historic centres of Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick and Waterford – brought to the town.

It had been hoped the scheme, which offers tax relief on the refurbishment or conversion of old buildings, would encourage more people to take up residence in the town centre on streets like Clanbrassil Street.

However, when local TD Fergus O’Dowd asked Minister Noonan whether he would extend the list of eligible towns to include Dundalk and Drogheda, his appeals fell on deaf ears.

In his response, Minister Noonan said: “The Living City Initiative, which was enacted in the Finance Act 2013 and commenced on 5th May 2015, has been extended beyond the original pilot cities of Limerick and Waterford, to include the cities of Dublin, Cork, Galway and Kilkenny as well.

“In line with my Department’s commitment to evidence based policy-making, the inclusion of these additional four cities was as a result of a comprehensive, independent ex ante cost benefit analysis.

“This Initiative is targeting particular areas of these six cities which are most in need of regeneration. I do not currently intend to extend the Initiative further than the six cities. However, my Department will closely monitor the progress of the Initiative in the six cities, and will keep the matter of potentially extending the relief further under review.

“It is important to note that I do not see this as a wide-spread Initiative, as it is targeted at those areas in the six cities which are most in need of attention.”

Shortage of police hindering fight against fuel smuggling

Senator Paul Coghlan with Cllr Oliver Tully at yesterday’s meeting of Louth County Council

A shortage of police resources in south Co Armagh is hindering the fight against fuel smuggling, a Fine Gael senator has claimed.

Paul Coghlan, chairman of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly Committee, told a meeting of Louth County Council yesterday that there were so few police on the ground in south Armagh that those involved in the illegal trade could “carry on regardless”.

The committee recently published a report on cross-Border criminality, including fuel smuggling, which followed a number of fact-finding visits to border areas by Mr Coghlan and other committee members.

It has recommended the establishment of a multi-agency cross-Border taskforce to tackle the problem of fuel laundering, which costs the exchequers in Ireland and Britain millions in lost excise duty. County councils in Louth and Monaghan have had to bear the cost of dealing with toxic sludge dumped by the fuel smugglers.

Yesterday it was revealed that there were more 597 clean-up cases in Louth in the last five years at a cost of almost €4m. This was almost half of the total nationwide, with four-fifths of the spend taking place in the Wee County.

Mr Coghlan yesterday briefed a meeting of the county council on the committee’s findings and told them that a senior source in the North had described the level of policing in south Armagh to him as little more than “a token presence”.

Fine Gael councillor John McGahon told the meeting that some of the country roads in north Louth were like highways, such was the amount of tanker traffic on them.

Green Party councillor Mark Dearey said fuel smuggling was striking at the very core of the local economy. Not only was the fuel being laundered, but proceeds of the crime were being laundered, which then affected the property and retail sectors.

Fianna Fáil councillor Declan Breathnach said a rebate for farmers was the only way to address the problem, as those involved in illicitly washing the dye from agricultural diesel were able to respond to changes in fuel markets.

Source: The Irish Times

Dundalk seeking to become part of Living City Initiative

A motion was put forward at the Dundalk Municipal District Committee’s annual general meeting last night seeking to have the Living City Initiative extended to Dundalk.

The Living City initiative focuses on the regeneration of retail and commercial districts and encouraging people to live in the historic centres of Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick and Waterford.

The aim of the Living City initiative is to bring life back into the heart of the relevant cities by offering tax relief for qualifying expenditure incurred on the refurbishment or conversion of certain buildings where conditions are met. These property tax incentives apply in certain “special regeneration areas” (SRAs).

Cllr Mark Dearey of the Green Party put forward the motion to seek the extension of the scheme into Dundalk. A recent Sunday Times article titled ‘Rotting to the Core’ further highlighted how the centre of Dundalk is in need of regeneration with the number of people living on the likes of Clanbrassil Street now extremely low.

Cllr Dearey’s motion was supported by his fellow councillors and the local authority will now put forward a case to the Department of Finance to have Dundalk included in the scheme, which was launched early last month.

Maria Doyle elected new chair of Dundalk Municipal District committee

Cllr Maria Doyle

Fine Gael councillor Maria Doyle was last night elected the new chair of the Dundalk Municipal District at a meeting in the Town Hall.

She succeeds Fianna Fáil’s Cllr Declan Breathnach in the role, becoming the first female to hold the position since the abolition of Dundalk Town Council in May 2014. Maria pipped Sinn Féin’s Cllr Kevin Meenan to the position.

The Municipal District is the successor to the old Dundalk Town Council and is made up of those elected in the Dundalk South and Dundalk Carlingford constituencies.

Maria, from Lis na Dara, first became a public representative in 2011 when she took over the Dundalk Town Council seat vacated by Senator Jim D’Arcy.

The CBS primary school teacher will be assisted in her role by Fianna Fáil’s Conor Keelan, who was elected the new vice-chair. A former chair of Dundalk Town Council, he takes over the role from the Green Party’s Cllr Mark Dearey.

Labour and Fine Gael expected to lose Louth seats in next General Election

Adrian Kavanagh’s prediction of where the five seats in Louth will go at the next General Election

 

Labour and Fine Gael could be set to lose seats in the next General Election in Louth.

That’s the view of the country’s leading constituency analyst Adrian Kavanagh, who has been making predictions about what might happen in the next election – scheduled to take place sometime in the next 15 months.

Writing in The Irish Independent, Mr Kavanagh said that Fianna Fáil were “well placed” to retain the seat that is currently held by Seamus Kirk. The former Ceann Comhairle will retire from politics when the current Dáil’s term ends with Kavanagh predicting that one of Declan Breathnach, Liam Reilly or Anthony Moore could gain.

He feels Ged Nash’s Labour seat is “highly vulnerable” and predicted that Fine Gael “could also lose one of their seats” with both Fergus O’Dowd and Peter Fitzpatrick at risk.

He expects Sinn Féin to claim a second seat with Imelda Munster and Tomás Sharkey predicted to be strong running mates for party leader, Gerry Adams.

While he feels Sinn Fein could go close to taking three seats, he feels the third will go to an independent candidate with Maeve Anna Yore and Mark Dearey of the Green Party predicted as potential beneficiaries.

While Gerry Adams topped the poll in Louth in 2011 he was the biggest loser in the first opinion poll of 2015 yesterday.

The Red C survey found that his personal support had fallen by 7% to 27% – making him the most unpopular leader in the country.

Oil affected seaweed removed from Carlingford Lough

A picture shared by Cllr Dearey on his Twitter page last week of oil found a mile upstream from the spillage

A quantity of oil affected seaweed was removed from Carlingford Lough at the weekend following an oil spillage at Warrenpoint last month.

The seaweed was removed by Louth County Council contractors at a location north of Omeath.

The matter arose after a spillage at Warrenpoint on October 22nd. Last week Green Party councillor Mark Dearey queried the impact of the spillage on Carlingford Lough and said he would be looking to debate the matter fully at the next meeting of Louth County Council.

In an update on the situation this morning, a statement from the council said: “Over the weekend Louth County Council arranged for the removal of oil affected seaweed at a location north of Omeath.

“The Council will continue to monitor this and other locations until the incident is closed off and there are no further risks to the environment.”

Dearey to query Warrenpoint oil spillage’s impact on Co Louth coastline

A picture shared by Cllr Dearey on his Twitter page of oil found a mile upstream from the spillage a week after it occurred

Green Party councillor Mark Dearey is set to call for a full debate on the impact of an oil spillage at Warrenpoint over a week ago on the Louth shoreline of Carlingford Lough.

The Omeath man said he would like to discuss the matter in full at the next meeting of Louth County Council after earlier this week expressing his concern that, a week after the spill, an area a mile upstream was still coated in oil.

Louth County Council did release a statement on the spillage, which occurred on October 22^nd, saying they were continue to monitor the shoreline for any negative impact.

The statement read: “Louth County Council (LCC) were informed on the 23rd of October of a fuel oil spillage at Warrenpoint harbour which occurred on the night of the 22nd of October.

“The affected areas reported were Warrenpoint Harbour and an area of foreshore near Narrow Water Castle in Co Down. Booms were deployed at Warrenpoint Harbour and an on-going beach clean is being carried out at Narrow Water Castle by the Northern Ireland authorities.

“As soon as the Council were made aware of the incident LCC informed all the relevant statutory and public bodies in the Republic and have been liaising with these bodies and the relevant bodies in Northern Ireland since the 23rd of October.

“LCC along with other public bodies have been inspecting the foreshore since the incident was notified to the Council. Some contaminated seaweed has been found along the foreshore in an area North of Omeath in Co Louth and the Council are arranging for removal and disposal of the affected material. On the Louth side of the Lough no impacts have been noted in the water body itself and along the shoreline.

“LCC will be continually monitoring the shoreline until such a stage as the clean-up on the Northern side of the Lough has been closed off and there are no further risks to the environment.”

Louth County Council vote to cut Property Tax rate by 1.5%

Cllr John McGahon hit out at Sinn Féin for a ‘reckless political move’ in trying to cut the rate by the maximum amount of 15%

Louth County Council yesterday evening voted to reduce the rate of Local Property Tax by 1.5%.

The cut in the tax is the equivalent of taking between €140,000 and €150,000 out of the council budget.

It came about after a two hour meeting in which a number of proposals were defeated. Sinn Féin had sought to cut the property tax rate by the maximum 15%, with proposals for cuts of 7.5% and 2% also being put forward by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael respectively. There was also a motion for no reduction from the Green Party.

All of these were defeated before the 1.5% amendment was passed on the casting vote of chairman Cllr Oliver Tully after 13 votes for and 13 against.

Councillors had been debating a potential cut for some time, including taking part in a workshop on the matter last week.

They had been warned by council officials that any cut in the property tax rate would have to be made up elsewhere.

After the meeting, Fine Gael councillor for Dundalk-Carlingford John McGahon said while he would like to have seen a bigger cut it was not possible.

Indeed, he accused Sinn Féin of a “reckless political move” in trying to force through a full 15% cut in the property tax.

He said: “I had hoped to see a more significant cut in the region of 2-5%. Fine Gael tabled a motion to reduce the property tax by 2%, however this was defeated.

“I took this vote very seriously and I was disappointed to see other councillors did not do the same. Sinn Féin proposed a full reduction of 15%, to my mind this was a financially reckless proposal which would have taken €1.4 million out of the council budget.

“I find it very disheartening that people were prepared to push the council off a financial cliff. It’s simple maths, if you are going to take €1.4 million out of a budget, you have to find the savings to make up the shortfall. Sinn Fein’s reckless approach involved voting for 15% and not considering the financial consequences.

“It is important to note that, out of ten Sinn Fein Councilors, not one of them turned up to the budget workshop meeting where a detailed analysis of the accounts was carried out, line by line, and councillors sought to see where a reduction could be made.

“This budget goes towards providing basic services like street lighting, maintenance of public parks, maintenance of roads, library services, Tidy Towns.

“Had 15% gone through, all of these services would have been drastically slashed and the people of Louth would have suffered. 1.5% may not seem substantial, but its €150,000 euro. It will be a base from which we can work towards reducing the property tax more over the next five years. But let me make myself clear, a 15% cut would have sent the council into financial chaos, I am proud that I voted to stop that happening,” he said.