Local people should be given priority for housing allocations, say Cork councillors

More priority should be given to local people when allocating local authority housing, according to councillors in West Cork.

The issue was raised by County Mayor Joe Carroll at the recent meeting of Cork County Council’s Western Division held in Clonakilty.

Mr Carroll said that councillors were being placed in a difficult position having to explain why certain houses or apartments were allocated to people who were not from the local area while at the same time there were local people waiting to be allocated accommodation.

Mr Carroll said: “If you want to build a house you have to prove you have a connection to the local area. It should be given more weight in housing allocations too.”

Deirdre Kelly of Fianna Fáil said it was “a hard sell” trying to explain to constituents why people from outside the area were allocated housing while local people remain on the waiting list.

Danny Collins of Independent Ireland said there was a problem with people from Cork city and other areas being allocated housing in West Cork.

Independent councillor Alan Coleman called for more weighting to be given to local people when applications were being assessed.

He said the issue should be discussed at the housing strategic policy committee with a view to giving more priority to “local people with links to the area.”

Cork County Council’s director of housing services Maurice Manning said that housing was allocated according to the council’s housing allocation scheme which was most recently adopted by council in 2023.

He said that the scheme operated on the basis of need with a number of criteria considered such as homelessness and overcrowding but connection to the local area was not a criteria.

He said that garda vetting was also part of the process and a review of the current allocation scheme was currently “on the agenda.”

• This article is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.