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RTÉ News
26-05-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Castlebar residents 'very angry' over dereliction in town
Castlebar residents are 'very angry' over a number of prominent buildings lying derelict it the town centre, including Mayo's most historic building - where the Land League was founded in 1879. Twenty-six properties were listed on Castlebar's derelict sites register last year, while Co Mayo had more than 250 derelict sites in total. "We've got four prime properties just off the main street in Castlebar," Independent Councillor Harry Barrett said, referring to a row of derelict properties on Ellison Street. "You can see the grills hanging off the roof to stop the slates coming down. These properties should have been developed ten years ago." The Ellison Street properties have been taken over by Mayo County Council, but due to design issues a recent application to turn them into social housing units was not supported by the Department of Housing. "We needed the money for this years ago," Cllr Barrett said. He added that construction on the new units was due to begin last November. Instead, he lamented, the vacant buildings remain an eyesore in the centre of Castlebar. "People in the town are very angry about it, councillors are getting multiple calls about it," Cllr Barret said. "We need to push on. It's not acceptable." A spokesperson for Mayo County Council told RTÉ's News at One that it is seeking a new planning permission for 13 social housing units at the Ellison Streets sites. Another prominent derelict building is the former Imperial Hotel on the mall - the central green space in Castlebar town. Michael Davitt founded the Land League there nearly 150 years ago, making it one of Mayo's most historic buildings. "We've been covering the story of the Imperial for over 15 years now," said Tom Kelly, editor of the Connaught Telegraph. The former hotel was purchased by the council in 2011, but has since fallen into dereliction. Plans by property developers to turn it into a hotel again have fallen through. "It's very annoying for people who have pride in Castlebar," Mr Kelly said. "The Imperial Hotel has become a monument to the failure to address the dereliction problem here," he added. Mayo County Council said it planned to revert to an earlier proposal to turn the building into a local innovation hub. The housing crisis is hitting Castlebar from all angles. The Castlebar municipal district said 437 housing units were needed to accommodate those currently on the housing list. Mayo County Council said that as of last week there were 49 families from the Castlebar area living in emergency accommodation. Many of these are understood to be in a homeless hub in Charlestown. Castlebar has now met the criteria to be declared a rent pressure zone by Minister for Housing James Browne. This comes as rents in the Mayo town have increased by double digits. "Castlebar is a good town with good jobs," auctioneer Marian Moran said. However, the lack of supply is pushing rents up by 20% a year. "A two-bedroom apartment will command €1,500 a month. One-bedroom will get €1,300-1,400 if it's good, and if it's town centre." On the building side, Ms Moran said: "We don't see that many new houses coming on stream. Even the price of the second-hand houses have gone up dramatically." She added that the cost of building materials and lack of funding were preventing all but a few builders from operating. Cllr Barrett called for greater autonomy for local councils and municipal districts in tackling dereliction. "We need emergency powers with dereliction in this county. There are people holding onto buildings in this county for 20 or 30 years and nothing is being said to them. "If I'm telling people they have to go to homeless shelters in Charlestown, something has to be done with dereliction," he said.
Irish Times
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Plaque to mark Charles Stewart Parnell's anti-eviction meeting in Co Kerry
A roadside plaque commemorating a large-scale public gathering to hear Charles Stewart Parnell advocate for an end to eviction and the right to own land is to be unveiled on Friday near Killarney . An estimated 3,000 people, most of them tenant farmers at risk of eviction, turned out on a field in Beaufort to hear Parnell, a founder of the Land League, speak on Sunday, May 16th, 1880. The Co Kerry meeting was the biggest such meeting nationally in 12 months and Parnell had arrived by train to Killarney to speak. The meeting was held in Patrick O' Sullivan's field, south of Beaufort Bar. Anne O'Sullivan, daughter of Patrick, later gave an account of how Parnellites canvassed local tenants for a suitable site. READ MORE John O'Mahony, the landlord at the time, who resided in nearby Dunloe Castle – now a five-star hotel – let it be known that any of his tenants who facilitated the meeting would be evicted from his lands. Despite this, her father Patrick O'Sullivan made his field available, Anne recounted. The turnout being so high, O'Mahony allowed the matter to rest. Organiser Padruig O'Sullivan said the idea of the commemoration was to mark the meeting but also to recall the struggle for land and home ownership. Mr O'Sullivan is a descendant of the family that opened its lands to host the meeting. 'We take many things for granted in today's modern world. Parnell's efforts in ensuring that we Irish have ownership of our own lands needs to be recalled,' Mr O'Sullivan said. The gathering took place at Beaufort, Co Kerry, on lands owned by the O'Mahony landlord, resident in Dunloe Castle. Photograph: Don MacMonagle A report of a meeting with Parnell was carried in the Dundalk Democrat on May 22nd, 1880. It details how the 'land meeting' drew 3,000 people who 'assembled to proclaim to the world that the present land laws required a change and to punish the men who attempted to drive the people from their homes (cheers)'. Parnell was described as 'the leader of the Irish people', again to cheers from the crowd. Daniel O'Donoghue, known as The O'Donoghue and then-MP for Tralee, thought the scene of landlord tyranny was the proper place to hold a meeting, the report said. 'Mr Parnell, who was received with vociferous cheering, said it was the largest land meeting he had attended since in the County Mayo 12 months ago. They initiated the land agitation which will swap the vital system of landlordism. The people of Ireland were now united in a great movement – the greatest undertakings that anyone could engage in – the task of obtaining for the people the land of their native country. 'But in this work they were beset by difficulties and dangers of no ordinary character. Famine had come upon the country – the laws the landlords made gave them the right of exacting any rent that they please, of seizing the food upon which the tenant is to rely for his existence in satisfaction of that rent and finally in driving the tenant from his holding if he fails or is unable to pay this rent (cheers)'. The meeting ended with a resolution 'the eviction of occupiers of land for non-payment of rent arbitrarily fixed by the landlord is unjust, subversive of the true interests of the country and calls for the emphatic condemnation of all lovers of justice,' according to the report.
