User:rorynoonanDate:07/06/2013Time:08:26:54Edition:07/06/2013Frifriecho070613Page:1Color:
EE - V1
FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 2013
EDITION NO. 34,932
Serving Cork for 120 years
‘89 years to clear city’s housing list’ IT WILL take Cork City Council 89 years to clear its current housing waiting list with the situation reaching crisis point, a councillor has said.
Cllr Thomas Gould outside a house at The Glen, which has been vacant for a year.
Sinn Féin’s Thomas Gould said ten families were now going on the waiting list for every one that came off. The council allocated just seven homes last month, while 76 people applied to go on the list. He said this was the worst month for allocations since he joined the council four years ago, and added that the local authority simply did not have enough funding from the Government to repair homes or build new ones. Of the seven allocations, only three were to families, with the other four homes going to single people. With more than 7,500 on the city council housing list, Cllr Picture: David Keane Gould said that even if there
Cork man killed in fall in Sweden
Liam O’Mahony, who was killed in Sweden.
07.06.13 Recommended retail price €1.50
A WEST Cork man has been killed in a fall while working on a construction project in Stockholm. Liam O’Mahony, from Farnahoe in Innishannon, had been working on a bridge project with the ICDS Group when he fell from a ladder on Wednesday afternoon. The tragic death comes just two months after fellow Innishannon man, Colin Callanan, was killed in a drowning accident in Thailand on April 12. It is be-
By ANN MURPHY lieved the two men were friends, having gone to school together and both played with local club Valley Rovers. Liam, had been working with ICDS in Sweden for the past 18 months as a plumber and welder. It is the second tragedy to hit his parents, Bernie and Mary, as he is pre-deceased by his brother Thomas Anthony. He is survived by five brothers and two sisters. His father Bernie is well
known in Innishannon as he was a developer. The young man’s remains have not yet been returned from Sweden and his funeral is not expected to take place until next week. In a statement, his company said investigations by the site authorities in Stockholm, local police, and health and safety authorities are underway. It added: “Our thoughts and prayers today are with his distraught family, friends and work colleagues.”
By ALAN HEALY
were no new applications, it would still take the council 89 years to clear the waiting list. “Three families housed in the month of May is a disgrace and shows how badly Cork is being treated by the Fine Gael and Labour Government. “Many of the vacant houses could be let out immediately if we just a little money to make some minor repairs,” he said. Cllr Gould said that Government cutbacks meant there was not enough money to carry out repair works to vacant council houses, meaning there was less stock to allocate. Figures released to councillors at a recent housing committee meeting show that: ● Eleven council homes were allocated last month, seven to ● Continued on Page 2.
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