*Photograph: John Mangan
ENNIS 2040 DAC are to manage the delivery of the county’s first affordable housing scheme.
The Clare Echo has learned that the designated active company which was established in June 2021 after elected members of Clare County Council voted to approve a €10m loan for its formation, is now going to manage the delivery of Clare’s first affordable housing scheme.
In early 2023, the Department of Housing granted Clare access to the Affordable Housing Fund.
Clare County Council in October 2022 acquired a block of six cottages with the intention of using the site as a temporary car park and then a mixed-use development as part of the Ennis 2040 Strategy, they had initially been on the market for €700,000.
This October, the Council confirmed that the Francis Street site was to be used for the county’s first affordable housing scheme that its planned use as a temporary car park would not proceed.
Confusion sparked at this month’s sitting of the Social Development Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) where officials in the housing department dodged questions from SPC Chair, Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND) and trade unions representative, Tommy Guilfoyle on the involvement of Ennis 2040 DAC with the Francis Street site.
Following this meeting, The Clare Echo questioned both Clare County Council and Ennis 2040 DAC as to what the role of the private company would be in the affordable housing scheme.
Staff in the Council’s housing team are currently preparing a submission for the Francis Street project to the Department of Housing for access to the Affordable Housing Fund, this application is expected to be submitted in the coming weeks.
A spokesperson for the Council told The Clare Echo, “This submission will be based on the design relating to the project as prepared by Ennis 2040 on behalf of Clare County Council. Ennis 2040 DAC in collaboration with the Housing Department of Clare County Council is managing the delivery of the Francis Street project on behalf of Clare County Council”.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Cllr Flynn expressed his shock at the involvement of Ennis 2040 DAC in the affordable housing scheme. “The bottom line here is you have an inexperienced body who was never put in place to deal with housing and then you have an experienced body like Clare County Council’s team in the housing department being demoted and they have no choice but to carry out the wishes of the Chief Executive. The DAC was put on the road by the Council and it is now becoming the lead authority on the delivery of affordable housing in Ennis”.
Shannon based Flynn who leads the Council’s SPC on housing believed there was now more questions than answers. “I don’t know what their function is, the limited company wasn’t put in place to deal with housing. I chair the housing policy and they are not an approved housing body. I find it very strange, especially with an affordable housing scheme those properties will be sold and the people that buy them don’t want to be managed by a limited company”.
He added, “The Francis Street site was bought by Clare County Council, will the Council continue to buy sites and hand them over, it is democracy gone mad and there is no accountability at all”.
Cllr Flynn felt it was time for the Chief Executive of the Council, Pat Dowling to now remove “the interference of the private company”. He stated, “The original information given to elected members was that the private company was set up to examine vacant and derelict sites in Ennis and try and encourage better use of these properties but unfortunately the terms of reference seems to have grown out of control. It is also of great concern that the seven elected representatives in the Ennis Municipal District have not united to stand against the unelected private company as housing in Ennis and indeed throughout Clare is in crisis and now more than ever the democratic mandate of elected councillors is under attack from a very centralised form of local governance”.
