'My apologies,' Carlow council left red-faced after 22 social houses lost to 'private sale'
The council said it will still receive 26 of the homes for social housing use at the Foran’s Way development on the Carlow Road, Tullow
Carlow County Council has confirmed that 22 of the 48 homes at the Foran’s Way development on the Carlow Road, Tullow will not be going towards social housing but will instead go up for “private sale”.
In a statement over the weekend, the Chief Executive of Carlow County Council, Coilín O'Reilly, said: “Our understanding is that to make the costs and the overall project viable there has been a need to convert 22 of the 48 units here to private sale.”
“Obviously, we would like to provide all 48 for social use but with construction cost increases this became less viable and it was important to ensure some form of social delivery”
The council said it will still receive 26 of the homes for social housing use.
The Chief Executive acknowledged the decision was disappointing from a social housing perspective in Tullow but said the council’s overall housing delivery in the area remains strong.
“While disappointing from a social housing delivery perspective in Tullow, our overall delivery here remains very strong. It also provides more private homes for sale in Tullow which is positive and provides a social mix in the Foran's Way Development.”
The statement also revealed that the council only became aware of the change in recent weeks.
“We only became aware of this in recent weeks and had planned to formally communicate this to councillors but have been caught out by the speed that these properties went on private sale. My apologies for this,” the statement added.
Reacting to the news, local elected member Cllr Will Paton said he was “very, very disappointed” and could not understand why they had not been informed of the development sooner.
The councillor said he was “even more disappointed for the people on the Tullow housing list who had their hopes built up” and offered “sincere apologies in this matter”.