Fears that people from outside the area will "swan in" and avail of housing opportunities in New Ross have been raised at the monthly meeting of the municipal district. With a limited amount of four-bed homes available for social housing applicants, the appearance of one on the choice-based letting (CBL) system had councillors campaigning on behalf of their local constituents.
The house in question had originally been listed as a five-bed property but, having been available for three weeks without any applications, Wexford County Council (WCC) took the decision to make it available to those seeking four-beds.
"Can someone from outside the district bid on that? How are they made aware that this is up there and available?" asked Councillor Michael Sheehan at the November meeting of the New Ross Municipal District (NRMD).
"I'd be concerned because there are a few people who have four-bed down as their preference in our district. I would hate to see them getting side lined for someone from a different district who just swans in and gets a five-bed house.
"We made the decision to list this house as a four-bed property to give those on the four-bed list an opportunity to express an interest," replied housing officer Martina Donohue.
"Priority will be given to those on the New Ross list and I'm not aware of anyone changing their area of choice to New Ross specifically to express an interest in it.
"Regardless of an applicant's area of choice they can express an interest in it, but those who have New Ross as their number one preference will be given priority."
Given the rarity of four-bed properties on the council's social housing list, Cllr Dwyer made a case for one unnamed individual he had previously made representations for.
"There's a person on the housing list for almost 16 years, on and off. She has a considerable sized family and is currently living with her parents. She was told categorically that there are no plans to build or buy four-beds in New Ross, in other words, 'you are going to languish for another 16 years, by which time your children will have moved out anyway'.
"She changed her preference to a three-bed in pure desperation and now she can't bid for four-bed properties because she was told none were coming up. Can this be revisited?"
Aware of the individual in question, Ms Donohue explained that this house had become available unexpectedly.
"I would have said at the time that there were no four-bed houses in the pipeline. But this is a casual vacancy, we have no way of knowing when one of these will arise. I will take a look at her case again."
For Cllr Sheehan the onus was on ensuring the house went to someone from within the NRMD above all else.
"I know of people who were aware a five-bed was coming up and asked for a transfer, we have all sorts of issues coming down the line now," he insisted.
"If no-one from within the NRMD expresses an interest in it we will offer it to those from outside the district," replied Ms Donohue.