Councillor Joe Sullivan makes impassioned plea on Wexford housing crisis: ‘This situation is out of control and it’s our fault’

St Waleran's was purchased by the local authority in 2019 with the goal of providing up to 400 houses along with assorted facilities and has seen a number of delays. Although touted as a major solution to housing issues in North Wexford, Cllr Sullivan seems to have become unwilling to wait and sought urgent short-term solutions.

"We keep mentioning St Waleran's,” he said, directing his comments to Council Chief Executive Tom Enright. “The nature of this is that we might not even be here when the first of those houses are occupied. I’ll be before the public again in two years and I don’t know what way your contract situation is. There's too much work to be done and we have to go through the stages. Short term, what are we going to do in the next two months to deal with this?”

"We have a number of projects at an advanced stage in Gorey,” Mr Enright replied. “We have the old CBS site for example. The reason I mention St Waleran’s is because it’s the largest land bank we have in the county. Other schemes will be quicker though.”

Acting Director of Services Gerry Forde pointed towards the CBS site and the Creagh site as two that are advancing quite quickly.

"Have I to go back and tell people that ‘this development is at stage two, and this one is at stage three’? They don't care. People don't care. They just need houses. This situation is out of control and it’s our fault. I take my share of responsibility for that. It’s not good enough.”

Independent councillor Ger Carthy shouted from the back of the chamber: “Well I accept no responsibility for the non-delivery of houses by Wexford County Council.”

Referencing the plight of Gorey in particular, the Chief Executive concluded: “How we manage to get more units in other towns is down to turn-key units. If we can acquire houses at a reasonable cost, we’re happy to do that. There are projects in the pipeline for the short, medium and long term.”