Council working "as quickly as possible" to acquire St Mary's Place houses

In the wake of a devastating fire at three derelict houses in Athlone’s St Mary’s Place last month, Westmeath County Council is working to acquire buildings in the area “as quickly as possible,” the May meeting of Athlone Moate Municipal District heard this week.

In a motion before the meeting, Cllr Aengus O’Rourke called for a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) to be fast-tracked for the three houses, Numbers 9, 10 and 11 in St Mary’s Place, and said the buildings should be “adequately and robustly secured, front and back” in the meantime to ensure there would be no repeat of what has been happening in recent weeks and months in the area.

“I called for action on these houses in February and maybe if some action had been taken we could have prevented what happened, but we are where we are,” said Cllr O’Rourke “so can we fast-track the CPO process at this stage?”

In supporting the motion, Cllr John Dolan pointed out that the law is “very prescriptive” when it comes to what can and cannot be done by the local authority, but he also called for the CPO process to be expedited as soon as possible.

“Property rights in this country are very strong and they are protected by the Constitution,” pointed out the Council’s Director of Services, Barry Kehoe, who added that the outbreak of a fire had “changed all that.”

“Up to the time the fire broke out we were very limited in what we could do in relation to these four houses,” said Mr Kehoe, who confirmed to the meeting that the council are “in the process” of acquiring the houses, which will form part of the plans for the development of the Loughanaskin project.

“When I hear talk of Loughanaskin, I think of this being a long-term project and we need to take action on these houses now,” said Cllr O’Rourke.

The Director of Services assured the meeting that the CPO will be progressed “as quickly as possible” and District Engineer Pat Nally told the meeting that the same contractor had been used to secure both the front and back of the three houses which were damaged in the fire, and that the same steel shuttering had been used in all cases.

Two units of Athlone Fire Brigade were called out to St. Mary’s Place on two separate occasions on April 22 last when a major fire broke out at three derelict houses which were the subject of on-going anti-social behaviour over several months.