Council assign additional resources for housing

Westmeath County Council is assigning additional resources to deal with “outstanding void” to address its housing list.

Cllr Alfie Devine presented a motion on the issue at the last meeting of the Mullingar-Kinnegad MD.

The Fianna Fáil councillor for the Mullingar-Kinnegad Municipal District called on the authority to consider putting out tenders for the refurbishment of unoccupied housing units in the possession of the council that are unavailable for a prolonged period.

Cllr Devine said there should be a specific time frame to return outstanding void houses back to a condition where they are ready for use and once this time elapsed the council appointed contractor should be replaced by an established local building contractor.

In their reply the executive said the Housing Section is engaging with the current contractor regarding outstanding voids and additional resources have been allocated to a number of these properties in order to have the required works carried out.

The meeting heard that the average turn around is 14 weeks, however there can be a variance depending on the condition of the property: “The Housing Section is also considering the procurement options for additional resources which can be availed of for specific housing units if required,” the reply said.

Cllr Devine also asked the MKMD to consider installing traffic calming measures at the village of Finea.

The executive said they will consider traffic calming measures for Finea as part of 2026 estimates.

They acknowledged that Finea and Castletown need other infrastructural improvements throughout the two villages.