“ANTI-SOCIAL CRIMINALS” are “wreaking havoc” in housing estates across the county according to elected representatives.
Establishment of a multi-agency emergency response team “to quickly & effectively deal with, and if necessary to evict the small number of tenants across County Clare whose persistent serious anti-social behaviour comes under the terms of the adopted Clare County Council Behaviour Strategy 2020-2026,” was sought by Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG), Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) and Cllr Pat Daly (FF) in a proposal before the Council.
Such a move would “protect” residents and communities while also preventing “damage to badly needed housing stock”. State agencies with related responsibilities must also “consider the care and protection of underage children in such households,” the trio flagged. The Behaviour Strategy was adopted last year to prevent and reduce anti-social behaviour in the 3,000 plus tenancies in areas across Clare where the Council has Tenancy Dwellings and Chapter 4 Tenancy Dwellings (RAS & Social Leasing).
Framework to address non-compliance with tenancy agreements “is a judicial process,” Director of Service with the Social Development Directorate, Anne Haugh responded. “There is no mechanism under law for a multi-agency team to take on this role,” she outlined. The Council is working with state agencies to deal with complaints of anti-social behaviour “and have a robust process for onward referral of complaints,” the Director added.
All complaints of such behaviour are investigated by the tenancy enforcement team, Ms Haugh said. When doing such work, the Council can decide on an appropriate remedy in accordance with the Anti-Social Behaviour Strategy ranging from advice, verbal warning, tenancy notification, written warning and eviction.
According to Cllr Flynn, COVID and animal welfare legislation was “flaunted” by some of the tenants who are keeping foals and ponies in estates. He told Monday’s meeting that a front-line healthcare worker doing night shifts with the elderly was returning to his home “to find his wife and child had been harassed” leading to him giving up his job, selling his house and emigrating. “This is an emergency,” the Ennis representative said while noting the 400 callouts per month responded to by the tenancy enforcement officers, “this is causing havoc in communities”.
Permanent resourcing of the enforcement team is needed, Cllr Colleran Molloy argued. “We’re limited by laws, books and processes,” she believed.
Legal advice must be obtained by the Council, Cllr Daly insisted. “The fact of the matter is the residents of Corrovorrin Grove ae being bullied on a daily basis, serious anti-social behaviour is happening,” he claimed.
Elected representatives are dealing with similar issues from multiple areas of Ennis town “on a regular basis,” Cllr Mary Howard (FG) flagged. “We need the enforcement team to be permanent, 3,570 calls were made this year and we’re only in the summer,” she observed.
Cathaoirleach of the Council, Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF) appealed to his colleagues not to name “one or two estates”. He said, “I get what you’re saying but this is a County Council meeting”.
This stance was praised by Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND). “Clare County Council deal with over 3000 tenancies, for the most part they are good and there are no issues”. He expressed his confidence in the current system and the tenancy enforcement team. The Shannon representative agreed the matter was a “big issue” and recalled previous labelling of “neighbours from hell” by his namesake.
Council Chief Executive, Pat Dowling felt the Director’s reply was “more than appropriate”. “For all aspects of our work we have to manage the behaviour of people, we have a process to go through and we have to liaise very closely with statutory bodies for issues that may arise. I can’t comment publicly on individual situations or individual cases,” he told the meeting.
Concluding the debate, Cllr J Flynn pinpointed it as “a public safety issue” with “a very small number of people creating havoc”. He said, “these anti-social criminals are incapable of being handled at the moment”.
