Edwin McGreal
edwinmcgreal@mayonews.ie
Two members of Castlebar Town Council have highlighted the fact that the local authority have only received one planning application in the first seven weeks of 2012, saying it is indicative of the lack of incentives people have to build.
Cllrs Michael Kilcoyne and Frank Durcan raised this statistic at the February meeting of Castlebar Town Council.
“If we operate off those numbers, there will only be six applications in the town this year,” said Cllr Durcan. “It shows that there was no incentive in the government budget to get capital works going in this country.”
Town Engineer Seán Higgins said that there were a number of applications received just before Christmas which should be taken into account.
Mayor Eugene McCormack welcomed the planning application lodged before Christmas for a building to replace the prefab structures at Davitt House in the town where unemployed persons go to sign on.
“The new building will afford people who have to go there much greater dignity,” he said.
However, Cllr Michael Kilcoyne lashed out at the development, saying it was an admission that unemployment rates would stay high.
“I would like to see us get rid of that building altogether and have no use for it. There is obviously an acceptance that there will be high unemployment. Maybe it would make more sense for that money to be spent on more staff. There’s very few staff left and people are waiting eight to 16 weeks for a simple decision on their eligibility,” he said.
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