Westport pyrite victims should be homed in new estate – Flynn

A WESTPORT county councillor has called for pyrite victims in Westport’s Páirc na Coille estate to be temporarily allocated houses in a new social-housing development.

Fifty housing units are currently under construction at the new development, which is located on Westport’s Golf Course Road. 

Cllr Peter Flynn last week proposed that 30 of these houses be designated as affordable purchase houses, with the remaining 20 to remain as social houses. Of the 30 affordable purchase houses, he argued, ten should be allocated to affected Páirc na Coille residents while their homes are being rebuilt. The houses could then be sold after the residents move out, he said.

At least 32 houses of the 54 houses Páirc na Coille have tested positive for pyrite.

Cllr Flynn said that there is a ‘disconnect’ between the demand for housing and the type of homes being built on the Golf Course Road, which are due for completion in 2024.

He argued that allocating ten of these to residents of Páirc na Coille would ‘meet the needs’ of the Westport area.

“If you look at the breakdown of the housing list, 77 percent of the applications are [looking for] one- and two-bedroom houses…but we’re building an estate where 75 percent of them are three bedrooms,” Cllr Flynn said at the December meeting of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District.

Mayo County Council has already forwarded a proposal to Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien TD, on the use of modular houses for pyrite victims. After being vacated, these houses could then be used to accommodate people on the council’s existing housing list.

A year ago, in December 2022, a request was formally made to the Department of Housing to allocate affordable-purchase houses on the Golf Course Road to the affected Páirc na Coille homeowners. However, according to the council’s Director of Services for Housing, Tom Gilligan, there had been no update regarding the proposal.

There are currently 1,235 people on the council’s housing list, 315 of whom are in the Westport-Belmullet area.

In addition to the Golf Course Road, a further 17 housing units are due to come on stream in the second quarter of 2025, following the development of the Convent of Mercy in Westport.