Mayo Local Elections: Aidan Browne says 'housing has always been a priority'

Social Democrats candidate Aidan Browne wants to represent his parish: “Addergoole hasn’t had a representative in 30 years. I feel very strong about representing my people here. There are a few thousand people here, it's geographically quite a large area. My focus is local.”

And Browne’s focus is on his generation. The 33-year-old says there are only three candidates in this year’s local election who are under 40 years old.

“I want to bring my age group’s perspective. There is no one on the Council that reflects my age group. I can't go a week without speaking to someone, and they bring up their housing situation. Housing has always been a top priority for the Social Democrats. We have so many people moving away. We are told: Get a degree, go to Dublin, make money and then come back in 20 years. But that hollows out the county and does not work out that way.”

Browne feels there is a huge urgency around the issue of housing. He claims the current government is currently falling well behind its own targets and concludes that “aggressiveness has to go up.”

He mentions social housing and land banks as ways of tackling the housing crisis. And housing issues take different forms as the example of the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar testifies:

“They got funding from the Mayo County Council in many years past, they got funding directly but recently funds were withdrawn, they are running on a deficit there. They have a beautiful historic building , it has particular maintenance needs. They might have to vacate the building and leave it. It's a heritage building, it's protected. So you can't convert it for a new business. Result would be another vacant building. It is one of the most popular nightlife streets in Castlebar as well. And also culture would be lost.”

And as there are very few nightlife venues being available in Castlebar, the loss of the Linenhall would be a blow for the town. Browne says that as a councillor he would work towards ensuring that the Linenhall will be put into a position to stay where theory are.

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