Boarded up houses should be taken over by the Council – Roche

Thirty three boarded up houses in Bridgetown should be taken over by the County Council and used for the benefit of the community according to a local community activist and local election candidate.  Mick Roche said that the abandoned buildings were an eyesore on a village with a very good community spirit and a population eager to recover from the effects of prolonged recession.

“These boarded up houses are a blot on our community,” Mr Roche said, “Drive out of the supermarket and you see them.  Take a walk down the road and you see them.  Look out your window and you see them.  It’s the height of insanity to have them lying idle and abandoned when families are crying out for housing.”

The Sinn Féin election candidate said his party were calling on the County Council to take over the buildings and utilise them for social housing and community projects.  “There are over one hundred thousand people on the social housing waiting list in this state today.  Thirty three houses could certainly be used to benefit some of those local families waiting for a home.  The buildings could also be used for to benefit the villages existing population.  It could be possible to refit one as a community centre for example.”