Fingal CoCo buys 400.000K Home in The Naul for Traveller Family

BollickyBill

I think the decision to buy what most people would regard as a luxury house(detached +land) is bound to anger a lot of people both home owners and those on the housing list. It does nothing to promote intergration between travellers and settled people. It does more to promote jealousy and intolerence of travellers. I do acknowledge that the travellers are an innocent party in all this.

Goldenquick

dsmythy wrote: »

400k house? Yes, yes it would.

Thank you.

FINGAL County Council is set to fork out close to € 400,000 for a four-bed detached bungalow in Naul which enjoys spectacular views over the Fingal countryside to accommodate a single family

If that is the case, then in my opinion the article in the paper should have read as above instead of as below. The article as we can see has caused controversly here and I'm sure it has done so in their community also.

FINGAL County Council is set to fork out close to € 400,000 for a four-bed detached bungalow in Naul which enjoys spectacular views over the Fingal countryside to accommodate a single family from the Travelling community

I have more of an issue with this than the money that was paid for it, that is secondary in my book. I was going to get a friend of mine to join boards here but you know, she would be so insulted seeing that and other remarks about travellers here, she is incidentally a member of the travelling community.

None of this is directed at you dsmythy, I apologise for not making that clear. Having slept on it I realise it would look like that, also perhaps I should have started another thread regarding antipathy towards the travelling community, (from some, not all I am pleased to see), apologies to boards and I do hope this thread does not go off track because of my post. Cheers.

Eoineo

I completely agree Goldenquick.

I have to stress that my family members have no objection to a traveller family moving into the house.

What they do object to is that the council haven't given adequate consideration (in their view) to moving any family to such an isolated location which is so far away from amenities. They also obviously object to the costs that the council will be bearing to place a family at this location and those associated with maintaining the house.

Personally I feel that such an amount of money to be spent on 1 council house is ridiculous. You could purchase 2 similar size houses, but not detached on land, in Rush & Balbriggan for the same price & house 2 families. If I were on the housing list I'd be really annoyed.

cathy01

As its the Dept of Enviroment funding it, they should change the policy, so that there is a limit to the amount of money they can spend.It is a expensive house, for what ever family go into it.I agree, the issue isnt that its a travellers family, but more that you could get 2 houses , with change for that price in a normal housing estate.It should be about meeting basic needs and not additional benifits.I think John Gormly needs to know that, its tax payers money, and hes accountable for how its spent.May cc your letter to him.Cathy

LeoB

Betty131 wrote: »

Apologies this was not meant to be a statement but rather an opinion. I should have worded it as follows I doubt any other family on any housing list in fingal or indeed other councils would even be given the option of a luxury house in the country.

You need to further revise your opinion, I can confirm to you that other councils DO purchase houses like this and they also purchase bigger.

IIRC Primetime done a programme on it for a woman with 6 or 7 kids who got an absoulate mansion. There appears to be a lot of scaremongering going on.

Beasty

I can find no reference to the size of the family in question. Please do not speculate over such matters

This thread will be locked if there are any more speculative or off-topic posts

Beasty

Betty131

LeoB wrote: »

You need to further revise your opinion, I can confirm to you that other councils DO purchase houses like this and they also purchase bigger.

IIRC Primetime done a programme on it for a woman with 6 or 7 kids who got an absoulate mansion. There appears to be a lot of scaremongering going on.

Where do they purchase houses like this and for who? They may be bigger but are they valued at 400,000+. And lets not forget this house was originally valued at 875,000.

Martron

it does not matter what the house was valued at. the fact is they still paid 400k for a house , that you could have paid 200k for to equivilant houses somewhere else ( without the land of course)

for a family looking for a house to buy it would be a great deal. but from a councils point of view looking for as many suitable houses for people on (a increasing i would imagine ) housing list it does not make sense.

LeoB

Betty131 wrote: »

Where do they purchase houses like this and for who? They may be bigger but are they valued at 400,000+. And lets not forget this house was originally valued at 875,000.

It doesnt matter for who they purchace the fact is other councils have purchased bigger houses and paid more.

If the council purchased a house say 5 -10 miles closer to the city how much would they have paid? The Naul is a great location for anyone to live and if the house was 5-10 miles closer to the city and was deemed good value it would have cost a good deal more, while the same house in Longford, Westmeath, Roscommon, Offaly, Leitrim or Cavan would have cost less. Limerick and Clare Co Co have purchased bigger while Roscommon C.C bought one beside my sister for a lot less.

As we have learned to our cost location is everything for some people.

cathy01

I believe there is a meeting about this tonight in the ring common.At 8.Local councillers invited to attend.Meeting called by local residents.
cathy

LeoB

cathy01 wrote: »

I believe there is a meeting about this tonight in the ring common.At 8.Local councillers invited to attend.Meeting called by local residents.
cathy

Is this meeting open to anyone or just residents of Kitchenstown/ Naul? I ask this Seeing as Fingal spent my money also, Money is the issue here?

Dont see the point in having councillors there as they appear to have little or no part in this purchase. Could degenerate into a shouting match.

Bluetonic

cathy01 wrote: »

I believe there is a meeting about this tonight in the ring common.At 8.Local councillers invited to attend.Meeting called by local residents.
cathy

Do you know what the agenda is?

Eoineo

I believe it's an open meeting - I think it's just started. Not a clue about the agenda sorry.

I'm hoping that the previous poster is wrong and it won't descend into a shouting match but there's a big possibility it will. I'm waiting to hear how they get on.

cathy01

only got a chance to go back on line now.My 7 year old went to see Jedward:D
Did anyone go, anyone got an update.
cheers ,Cathy

Eoineo

I didn't reply because I believe it was a bit of a futile meeting. I was told that a councillor stood up, informed the meeting that it was a done deal, going ahead and they could complain all they liked. :rolleyes:

Bluetonic

Eoineo wrote: »

I didn't reply because I believe it was a bit of a futile meeting. I was told that a councillor stood up, informed the meeting that it was a done deal, going ahead and they could complain all they liked. :rolleyes:

Just to get this clear in my head what would they be complaining about?

Eoineo

As I've already said above:

Eoineo wrote: »

What they do object to is that the council haven't given adequate consideration (in their view) to moving any family to such an isolated location which is so far away from amenities. They also obviously object to the costs that the council will be bearing to place a family at this location and those associated with maintaining the house.

Bluetonic

Eoineo wrote: »

As I've already said above:

So they know where the family are being moved from?

Eoineo

There's been an awful lot of speculation in the area about which families will be moved in and where they are coming from. They're convinced they know but I'm not so sure that they do. The only way of being sure who is being moved into the house is to meet them on moving day.

At this stage I really don't think that it would matter who the Council moved into the house. A combination of poor press reporting, lack of information from the council & gossip has most of the local residents' backs up. I feel sorry for whoever eventually moves into the house as they really are the innocent party in the whole thing. I hope that the residents are gracious enough to recognise that & understand that they personally aren't responsible.

Bluetonic

Eoineo wrote: »

There's been an awful lot of speculation in the area about which families will be moved in and where they are coming from. They're convinced they know but I'm not so sure that they do. The only way of being sure who is being moved into the house is to meet them on moving day.

At this stage I really don't think that it would matter who the Council moved into the house. A combination of poor press reporting, lack of information from the council & gossip has most of the local residents' backs up. I feel sorry for whoever eventually moves into the house as they really are the innocent party in the whole thing. I hope that the residents are gracious enough to recognise that & understand that they personally aren't responsible.

Excellent post.

LeoB

Eoineo wrote: »

There's been an awful lot of speculation in the area about which families will be moved in and where they are coming from.

At this stage I really don't think that it would matter who the Council moved into the house. A combination of poor press reporting, lack of information from the council & gossip has most of the local residents' backs up. I feel sorry for whoever eventually moves into the house as they really are the innocent party in the whole thing. I hope that the residents are gracious enough to recognise that & understand that they personally aren't responsible.

And as we know speculation can be dangerous.

The attidtude of the council is one that is becoming more and more prevelant in many areas of Irish life where the views of the general public are being overlooked. Agree with you last sentence and knowing a good few people from the Naul area I think the locals will be ffine with the new residents.

The whole issue brings up another serious question in my opinion. If council officals can go and spend €400,000 without consulting the people we elected is there any point continueing with County Council elections?
This case along with others highlighted on Boards.ie shows the scant regard towards some communities by elected politicans.

Bluetonic

I wonder will the new residents be coming from the halting site which is around 1 mile from the house.

Traveler families having been living in the Bog area 30+ years so it would be nice to see them join the settled community in real terms.

garfieldthedog

Bluetonic wrote: »

I wonder will the new residents be coming from the halting site which is around 1 mile from the house.

Traveler families having been living in the Bog area 30+ years so it would be nice to see them join the settled community in real terms.

Now thats an excellent post!

Its about time the real issue of this thread has been adressed, who ever moves into the house abviously has a need for housing in this particular area, people are not homogenous in their housing needs, integration is the best route for acceptance of social housing.

Alan Farrell

LeoB wrote: »

If council officals can go and spend €400,000 without consulting the people we elected is there any point continueing with County Council elections?

The council operate under a policy approved by the elected Councillors of Fingal in late 2009. We were not informed of the particulars of this case.

LeoB wrote: »

This case along with others highlighted on Boards.ie shows the scant regard towards some communities by elected politicans.

Either the politicians have no regard for the public or the council officials don't have regard. Which one is it?

----

I wasn't at the meeting as I had a more local event booked in already but one point that should have been raised is that from my information, this is house number 7 to be purchased in "rural" fingal under this and the previous traveller accommodation program.

Eoineo

Bluetonic wrote: »

I wonder will the new residents be coming from the halting site which is around 1 mile from the house.

Traveler families having been living in the Bog area 30+ years so it would be nice to see them join the settled community in real terms.

As far as I'm aware the family will not be from the Bog area which is a big pity. There is one family in particular who I believe are quite upset as they feel they are being passed over in favour of someone not from the locality.

LeoB

Alan Farrell wrote: »

The council operate under a policy approved by the elected Councillors of Fingal in late 2009. We were not informed of the particulars of this case.

Either the politicians have no regard for the public or the council officials don't have regard. Which one is it?
.

I dont know who has regard for who. Do you feel they have regard for you?. Like others I am totally confused. I would trust most councillors but feel they are not very valuable if the officials dont bother consulting with them or informing them on such a contentious issue. Its not good enough you were not informed on this occasion.

Maybe the officials knew there would be a back lash over it.