Only 1.47% of social homes in Tipp have been audited, say Tipperary Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin Cllrs David Dunne, Annemarie Ryan and the party public rep for North Tipp, Dan Harty have today slammed the government for failing to properly resource stock audits in local authority provided housing in Co Tipperary.

These comments come as figures released to Sinn Féin spokesperson on Urban Regeneration & Renewal, Public Realm & Local Government, Thomas Gould TD, show that only 82 social homes in Co Tipperary have been audited since 2022.

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Cllr Dunne said: “In November 2021, Sinn Féin was told that stock audits would be undertaken on all social housing units in the following four to five years. Yesterday, we were told that stock audits would be undertaken on all social housing units in the following four to five years. The timeline keeps being pushed out while people in Tipperary are forced to live in mouldy, damp homes.

“At the government’s pace, it will now take 273 years to complete these stock audits in Tipperary. There are 5590 social homes in Tipperary, and they have only completed 82 audits in the last 4 years. That is completely unacceptable.”

Cllr Ryan stated: “What is even more concerning is that no additional funding has been provided for the maintenance issues that are found through these stock surveys. People are living in mouldy, damp and cold homes across Tipperary. They don’t need someone to just find a list of the problems; they need funding to repair their homes.

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“The longstanding issues with housing maintenance in Tipperary will not be solved by stock surveys, but they must be a step forward.”

Mr Harty concluded: “All across Tipperary I’m aware of social housing units where young families are forced to live in cramped conditions, often in their parent’s house where issues with mould and damp are an everyday reality. Young children often end up with respiratory complaints when they have been exposed to these conditions for extended periods”.

“The Minister must ramp up the completion of these surveys and clearly set out what funding he will provide to complete the work identified by the audits.”