Mayo councillors outraged after historic Westport building turned into homeless shelter

Mayo County Council has been accused of facilitating unauthorised development and allowing a historic listed building in Westport to become an emergency homeless shelter.

It has emerged that a building along the North Mall in Westport, which previously accommodated Ukrainian refugees, is currently being used to house homeless people who are unable to be accommodated by Mayo County Council.

The matter was raised at yesterday’s monthly meeting of the Westport/Belmullet Municipal District, where local councillors expressed anger that they had not been informed about the development or who would be housed in the building, which is located beside Westport Post Office.

Fine Gael councillor Peter Flynn told the meeting that he understands the owner of the building also owns the Railway Hotel in Ballinrobe, which up until recently housed homeless people.

“It was brought to our attention last week that there is a house on the Mall in Westport that has now become a homeless shelter for the county. As we are all aware, we had the shelter in Ballinrobe shut down, and it is my understanding that this location in Westport is going to be the destination of choice for a certain select clientele,” he said.

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‘Beggars belief’

Cllr Flynn also told the meeting that the windows facing the street have been screened off to stop people looking in and that there is ‘unauthorised development’ taking place at the back of the hotel.

“It beggars belief, what can be allowed in there. There is a whole host of additional apartments built; there is one wooden structure underway and two more foundations for two more apartments to go in. All the windows are screened off in the house so you cannot see in. I have never seen a house in this county where the windows are screened out so you cannot see in. I am reliably informed that the rooms are split into two to maximise the return.

“This is an area of conservation and one of the most historical streets in our county, with the buildings protected, and yet we have all this illegal development going on in the background. It really is a disaster and not acceptable,” he told the meeting.

Development taking place at the back of the property along the North Mall in Westport

Occupants

When pressed for information on the issue, Head of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District Seamus Ó Mongáin said he was not aware of any agreement between Mayo County Council and the property owner regarding this building in Westport. This was later confirmed by Jim Power, Administration Officer in the Westport office.

When Cllr Flynn asked if this meant that the building was wide open for ‘all sorts of people’ to stay in, Mr Power said that matter was a complex issue, and that cases are dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Mr Power initially denied that the building is a homeless shelter, but he then admitted it has been used to accommodate people who have presented as homeless. He said that only one person who presented as homeless to the Westport office is in the building currently, and that he could not say where the other occupants are from or how many there are.

When asked why the local council officers do not know this, Mr Power said the central housing office would have this information but the local office would have no reason to have it.

This explanation was rejected by Cllr Flynn, who said that the local people should know who is in their town.

“You mightn’t but people of Westport will find a reason because they want to know what type of characters are coming into our town. I am not talking about anyone occupying it at the moment, but we have a situation where this will become a significant homeless shelter in the county, and it can only take a certain clientele. Ballinrobe has shut down and the obvious destination [for a facility] is Westport, and it is clearly being facilitated by unauthorised development,” he said, adding that he received information that one sexual offender had been relocated to Westport.

A local Garda spokesperson told The Mayo News that the property was ‘not like the Railway [Inn] at all’. “It’s not something that’s causing us an ongoing problem,” they said.

In the dark

The other three local councillors in Westport also expressed concern about the use of the building to accommodate homeless people, with Cllr John O’Malley saying that housing homeless people had become more profitable than Ukrainians.

Fianna Fáil councillor Brendan Mulroy stated that the local representatives had ‘no hand act or part’ in the building becoming a homeless shelter, and he his expressed concern about the fact the local council officials had not been made aware of it.

“It is very hard for the lay person on the street to understand how, if someone is being housed in Westport, the Municipal District [officials] in that area would not be aware of it. It is hard to get your head around that,” he said.

Cllr Flynn also informed the meeting that he received a text from Tom Gilligan, Director of Services, stating that the owner of the building was ‘providing emergency accommodation to us in Westport’. He proposed that Mr Gilligan attend their next meeting to detail the plans for the building and who it will accommodate.

This was seconded by Cllr Mulroy, who also asked for officials from the Housing Department to be present at the next meeting to answer questions.

With regard to the accusation of unauthorised development at the back of the hotel, Mr Ó Mongáin said that he would refer the matter to the planning-enforcement section of Mayo County Council.