The delisting of a historical house as part of the Ballina Town Development plan caused some debate in the council chamber this week. Cllr Tommy Cooke called on Paddy Mahon, town manager, to meet with the family in question and sort out the situation, an idea that was supported by a number of the councillors in the chamber.
The building was delisted as part of the Ballina draft development plan which was adopted by the council earlier and since the delisting was not part of any of the amendments that have been made to the plan, the councillors cannot change it back at this stage unless they issue a notice of motion. The house in question has been subject to a number of listing and delisting issues for a number of years, and Fianna Fáil councillor Johnny O’Malley put forward the notion that it is the Minister for Environment and Local Government who has the power to list and delist buildings if he wished to do so. Town manager Paddy Mahon confirmed that the council had recently received a letter from the Department on the listing of the house but no move had been made on it yet.
