New cathaoirleach agrees with president on housing failures

Westmeath County Council’s new cathaoirleach says that he agrees with criticism by President Michael D Higgins of Ireland’s attempts to tackle the housing crisis.

Cllr Aengus O’Rourke, son of former government minister Mary O’Rourke, was elected cathaoirleach at the AGM in Mullingar on Monday, exactly 70 years after his late grandfather PJ Lenihan was elected to the same position.

Speaking after his selection to replace his party colleague, Cllr Frankie Keena, Cllr O’Rourke said that it was an “incredible honour” and that was proud to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps.

The FF man also paid tribute to Cllr Frank McDermott, one of Ireland’s longest serving local representatives, who served with his grandfather in the early 1970s. He also joked that while his grandfather served as Westmeath’s first citizen for three years “on the trot; one year for me is just fine”. Looking ahead, Cllr O’Rourke said “there will be difficult decisions to make and tricky times ahead”. “So many international factors are impacting the economy at this time resulting in a cost-of-living crisis that is impacting on every household.

“In this context I want to lay my stall out nice and early. I will not be supporting an increase in the Local Property Tax for 2023. I didn’t support one in 2021 and 2022 and I won’t be doing so in September. We can and we will deliver the services that people have become accustomed to and I have every faith in our director of finance, the management team and us, the members, thrashing out a budget that doesn’t require us to increase taxes.”

On the issue of housing, Cllr O’Rourke said that he agreed with the sentiments expressed by President Higgins last week when he said that housing was Ireland’s “great, great failure”.

“While we have made strides in recent years and our pipeline on paper is healthy, in reality delivery is slow and sometimes uncertain. I would urge our housing section to redouble all possible efforts to tackle our housing crisis.

“We should be doing more to drive the affordability agenda, give people hope, provide really options for working people who are caught in the housing trap, paying excessive rents and unable to save or move on.”

The current social housing model is “complicated, fragmented and in my view sometimes half baked”, Cllr O’Rourke said.

Many of the social housing models such as RAS, HAP and leasing “are no longer fit for purpose” and “are not the answer”, he said. “I agree with the sentiments expressed by our president last week. As a country, he is right, we have failed our people in terms of the provision of housing. There is no other way of saying it.”

On a more positive note, Cllr O’Rourke said that he is looking forward to this summer’s Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Mullingar. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to showcase Mullingar, Westmeath and the midlands to hundreds of thousands of people,” he said.

Cllr O’Rourke was joined in Áras an Chontae by family and supporters, including his wife, Lisa. His mother was unable to attend due to illness, but he said that he was sure that she was “there in spirit”.

Councillors congratulated Cllr O’Rourke and paid tribute to his predecessor Cllr Keena.