Councillors have called on Galway County Council to provide more information and financial assistance to the identified owners of properties added to the protected structures list.
At Monday’s meeting of the local authority, Cllr Tom McHugh (FG ) told the chamber that he had received a number of representations in relation to the issue of protected structures and the letters received from the council. “They have concerns about what this means for their properties. We need to allay these concerns,” urged Cllr McHugh who added that in some cases maintenance of the properties has been minimal and would therefore require substantial repairs. He then called on the council to help owners struggling to carry out these repairs in the form of grant aid.
Supporting this, Cllr Seán Ó Tuairisg (FF ) explained that the wording of the act governing protected stuctures “can be frightening and intimidating to people, especially the Irish version”. “It is very confusing,” said Cllr Ó Tuairisg, who added people are concerned about what effect it will have on planning permission applications.
Cllr Gerry Finnerty (FF ) said there were still a number of thatched cottages in South Galway and queried what will be done about the maintenance and upgrade of these structures. Cllr Michael Maher (FG ) noted that the council is going to be inundated with property owners informing them they do not want to be involved in the scheme as it will be too costly for them.
Director of services for planning and human resources, Kevin Kelly, explained that the council had sent out letters, including a Section 8 notice requiring the recipient to inform the council who is the owner of the property. When information was recieved further letters were then sent out to the identified owners. “We had 800 properties recorded previously. Out of 1,400 properties a further 800 have been added. We sent out bilingual guides to each person, which is in a simple format setting out plainly what to do with the property without planning permission needed. Queries are being answered and officials have visited the properties,” said Mr Kelly, who added that this year €127,000 has been made available for the structures at risk fund and it will be used on a 50/50 spend between the grant and the owner/occupier.
A motion calling for grant aid to be made available for repairs and maintenance to the amount of 80 per cent was then put forward and passed.
