Mayo councillor hopeful of 'positive outcome' to Westport homeless shelter controversy

A WESTPORT councillor hopes that a 'positive outcome' will prevail regarding the housing of homeless people in a building along the Mall in Westport.

An historic building located 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.

Local councillors expressed anger at a recent meeting of the Westport/Belmullet Municipal District that they had not been informed about the development or who would be housed in the building, which is located beside Westport Post Office.

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The meeting also heard that no agreement was in place between Mayo County Council and the property owner regarding this building in Westport but it was being used to accommodate homeless people

Meeting

Last week, local public representatives along with senior officials from Mayo County Council met with the owner to discuss concerns they had regarding the current use of the building.

Fianna Fáil councillor Brendan Mulroy told The Mayo News that they had a constructive meeting and hopes that the matter can be resolved to the satisfaction of everyone involved.

“We met with the landlord and the housing section and we are very hopeful of a positive outcome. We are happy we met and sat down and hopefully there will be a positive resolution to it,” he said.

The owner of the building also owns the Railway Hotel in Ballinrobe which was also used as emergency accommodation where a number of incidents of anti-social behaviour were reported. There are no reports of any anti-social behaviour occurring at the house in Westport.