Mayo councillor welcomes work to begin on social housing project in Achill

WORK on the construction of 20 social houses on the site of the old Scoil Damhnait Secondary School in Achill is due to get underway tomorrow.

The contract for the construction of the 20 social housing units at Polranny was recently awarded to Manulla-based contractors LPB building Service Ltd who are expected to start work on the €6.2 million project on Monday, July 1.

The project will consist of the construction of 20 units consisting of four one-bedroom single story houses; 12 two-story two-bedroom houses and four two story three-bedroom houses.

The homes will be built on the 1.149 hectare site of the old Scoil Damhnait Secondary School which will be demolished as part of the construction phase.

The start of the project was welcomed by local councillor Paul McNamara who said that he was delighted that the houses will now be built and it was good news for Achill.

“Twenty social houses in the parish of Achill is a great investment and €6.2 million is a lot of money to be coming and spent in Achill. This is something I have been lobbying for since I was first elected to Mayo County Council ten years ago and I am delighted that this is the third project my fingerprints have been all over. We delivered five houses in Tonragee four years ago and in Mulraany who have 16 houses under construction and are nearly finished. Now we have the start of 20 houses in Achill,” he said.

Cllr McNamara said he wished to acknowledge the work of Mayo County Council officials and his colleagues on the council in getting the project over the line.

“I have to acknowledge the part Mayo County Council have worked with myself and others over the past two years to get it over the line. It is a great investment for the parish of Achill and it will mean there will be 20 families who come off the housing list. We have over 40 people on the housing list in Achill and 20 of those will come off it until we find more land to start phase two,” he said.

Westport-based councillor Brendan Mulroy also thanked everyone involved in the delivery of 50 social houses on Golf Course Road in Westport which are due to be completed by the end of the year.

“It is a fantastic development and it will be a proud day when those houses are opened and it will only be the start of things to come,” he said.