Angry residents 'may take law into their own hands'
People in Cashel had threatened to take the law into their own hands to deal with anti-social behaviour in the town, Monday night's meeting of the local Town Council was told.
Angry Council members spoke of problems in a house at Spafield Crescent and at another house in Cathal Brugha Street, problems that had reduced a grown man to tears because he and his family were unable to sleep at night.
In another incident a television was thrown through a car windscreen.
The members also felt they should have more say in the allocation of tenants to houses.
The residents of Spafield Crescent were very upset about the anti-social behaviour in the house in the area and it had reached a stage when people were talking about taking the law into their own hands, said Cllr. Martin Browne.
The people in the house seemed to be able to carry on at will and nothing was done about it. Twenty minutes after the Tenant Liaison Officer left last week, nine teenage boys and two girls wearing school uniforms were seen entering the house.
He said they were talking about that particular house for the past twelve months or more. There was a litany of people who would give evidence on behalf of the Council if it came to court.
Cllr. Martin Browne couldn't understand why they were "pussy-footing"around these people - "we don't want them in Cashel, they're no addition to the town", he said.
He also said they had asked time and again if they could be consulted in some way before tenants were allocated to houses. He claimed the members were being totally ignored by the officials, who appointed somebody to a house and then returned to Clonmel or wherever they lived, while the members were left to pick up the pieces if things went wrong.
The Council was very much part of this problem because it had appointed the tenant to the house in Cathal Brugha Street, said Cllr. Joe Moloney. These tenants had smashed a car outside their own door one night last weekend and people would take some action if something wasn't done about this. There were elderly and young people living near these people and there had never been a problem in that area before, but now it was time to call a halt.
Cllr. Moloney agreed the Council should be allowed to vet tenants before their appointment.
Mayor Eddie Bennett said that someone from outside of the town had asked him what were they doing in Cashel after the tenant of one of those houses was the subject of a radio programme.
He said the nine Council members were powerless in this. All they could do was to make representations. It was sad it had gone this far and he didn't know what would happen.
In the incident at Cathal Brugha Street, the tenants had fired a television through a car windscreen, said Cllr. Martin Browne. All the people living in that area were fine, decent and honourable but the Council had inflicted someone upon them who wasn't prepared to live by the rules.
The members were promised that they would have an input into the allocation of tenants but that was since swept under the carpet, said Cllr. Dan Dillon. They were told at different times that it was the County Manager and the Housing Officer who had the final say, and it was being passed from Billy to Jack.
The members, the people on the ground, were getting flak from those suffering at the hands of these undesirable people, said Cllr. Dillon.
He said the members knew more than the officials about potential tenants. He said the members got first-hand information on the practical side while the officials were working on theory.
What was going on in Spafield Crescent was a disgrace and terrible for those living nearby, said Cllr. Eoghan Lawrence. He met a grown man who was in a flood of tears because he and his family couldn't sleep at night. Those involved didn't care and the Gardai had a path worn to the house.
There was just one house involved but it brought down the whole area.
They had discussed vetting tenants before their appointment for the past 20 years, said Cllr. Michael Browne. There were difficulties with priority cases, where people were allocated houses before the members knew it.
If there were young people going into that house in Spafield Crescent then their parents should be responsible, he said.
It was only a few years ago that they had avoided a very difficult family from Tipperary town being brought into Cashel, said Cllr. Sean McCarthy.
Town Clerk Marie McGivern said a notice to quit would be served on the Spafield Crescent house next week, on either February 11 or 12.
The house in Cathal Brugha Street also belonged to the local authority. The Tenant Liaison Officer had compiled a report and if there wasn't a satisfactory outcome a notice to quit would be served.
The letting of houses and the appointment of tenants was the function of the Manager, although they could inform the members of the list of approved applicants.
Ms McGivern said the Manager's decision was based on the Council's scheme of letting priorities.
However Cllr. Martin Browne accused the Town Clerk of throwing them a sop, because people were allocated houses without even being on the list.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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