South Dublin Sinn Fein councillor accuses McManus of engaging in “gutter politics”

Sinn Fein councillor for Clondalkin William Carey has accused Fine Gael of engaging in “gutter politics” after councillor David McManus suggested that tenants in arrears were responsible for the council failing to refurbish additional housing stock.

In a statement today, Carey said that South Dublin County Council has an “excellent record” of collecting rents from tenants and that those who do find themselves in arrears can often do so for a variety of reasons, mainly as a result of late or delayed assessments.

Carey said that over the past seven years, SDCC had collected a total of €167,852,063 in rents.

This equated to a collection rate of 98.9%.

“During the two years of Covid 19 we most certainly had a spike in rent arrears of €1,617,945, but this was an exceptional period that still requires analysing to ascertain and identify the reasons here,” he said.

“Over the period of the other five and a half  years this figure totalled only €296k in comparison.”

“Collections this year to-date show a surplus of rent collected €77, 348 (€11,197,244 over €11,119,896),” Carey says.

“These figures show that the vast majority of council tenants are not only paying their rent but that those who find themselves in arrears have entered into debt management plans with SDCC (3145).”

Carey added that council tenants who find themselves in arrears often do so inadvertently due to late or delayed assessments.

“There will always be a small amount of tenants who struggle due to social or psychological issues.

“SDCC have an excellent team that try to engage with tenants on an on-going basis to resolve these issues,” he says.

“Fine Gael councillors would be better served by trying to address this matter at council meeting instead of engaging in attacks upon some of the most vulnerable groups in our society.”

Speaking to the Irish Independent yesterday, Fine Gael councillor David McManus said: “The knock-on effect is boarded up, vacant council houses during a housing crisis as this rent is needed to refurbish properties.

“We now have approximately 56pc of all tenants in some level of arrears.

“Council management have failed to resolve the arrears for some time now as between 2014 and 2018, the arrears increased from €7.8m to €8.1m.

“This is serious as it has a knock-on effect on our ability to re-invest in our 10,000 council homes and respond to maintenance requests by tenants.

“It’s completely unfair for those tenants paying their rent but left waiting for repairs to their home,” he said.

“Council management will always show compassion when engaging with genuine tenants in difficulty but tenants must engage or else face legal action.”