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05 Sept 2025
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05 Sept 2025
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Mayo County Council’s Director of Services for Housing , Tom Gilligan.
“Boycotting non-contributing absentee property owners” would highlight “the social cost of empty homes”, the Director of Services in Mayo County Council, Tom Gilligan has said.
Invoking Gandhi and Michael Davitt, Mr Gilligan calls for the grassroots action, in the form of a boycott, as a way to “express community dissatisfaction and create pressure for change” and to create “greater pressure to justify or reconsider keeping properties vacant.”
Speaking to The Mayo News this morning, he confirmed he stood over the proposal.
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Mayo County Council has said the proposal “does not reflect the official position of Mayo County Council.”
It went on to say in an email to The Mayo News that “the proposal referred to was part of an internal discussion document that was circulated in response to the SPC’s (Strategic Policy Committee’s) request for a policy around holiday homes. No policy has been formulated or adopted by Mayo County Council.”
The proposed boycott would consist of “avoiding patronage of businesses or services owned by absentee landlords, refusing engagement with holiday homeowners, public campaigns, posters, and community meetings encouraging solidarity and social pressure, including open letters and local resolutions, demanding accountability from property investors.”
Fianna Fáil Cllr Brendan Mulroy has called for the Strategic Policy Committee on Housing to be reconvened as soon as possible to discuss the Tom Gilligan statement.
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