Controversy over Mayo official's call for 'boycott' of holiday home owners
Controversy has erupted after a senior official of Mayo County Council called for a community-led “boycott” of holiday-home owners in order to bring high numbers of vacant properties back into use and combat the housing crisis.
A report today in the Irish Independent stated that despite the council distancing itself from the plan, Tom Gilligan, the director of services for housing, proposed the immediate boycott of holiday-home owners in Mayo as "a potential remedy for bringing holiday homes back into use for long-term sustainable housing."
In an email circulated to members of the council's housing strategic policy committee, he referencing the historical significance of Mayo through the Land League, and name-checking Michael Davitt, Captain Boycott, Charles Stewart Parnell and Mahatma Gandhi in calling for “grassroots action."
“While policy tools such as taxation and CPOs are progressing, grassroots action – in the form of a targeted boycott – is also being proposed as a way to express community dissatisfaction and create pressure for change,” he said in his email.
Under the heading, “Application of the Boycott”, he said it would be “a peaceful, non-violent civil action."
He said a four-point plan would involve the local community in which holiday-home owners live part-time.
It would involve:
1. Avoiding patronage of businesses or services owned by absentee landlords.
2. Refusing engagement with holiday-home owners.
3. Public campaigns, posters and community meetings encouraging solidarity.
4. Social pressure, including open letters and local resolutions, demanding accountability from property investors.
Mr. Gilligan is quoted as stating the campaign would place pressure on holiday-home owners “to justify or reconsider keeping properties vacant."
He said this would possibly inform a decision “to sell and/or rent” their holiday home long-term, while also raising awareness “of the real impact their housing decisions have on locals."
He went on to say the aim of the boycott would be to “highlight the impact of underused housing stock on local communities”, while also encouraging “policy reform and taxation measures on vacant second homes."
He said that while “tourism is valuable, housing security for year-round residents must take precedence."
He added: “This proposal does not seek to vilify or blame individuals, but rather to challenge the acceptability of allowing homes to lie idle in the middle of a housing crisis.”
When contacted by the newspaper, Mr. Gilligan said employers have told him they are quite happy to come to Mayo but cannot find accommodation for staff, and the local economy was suffering as a result.
“I hate to say it, but holiday-home owners are bad neighbours, to be honest with you,” he said.
Mr. Gilligan admitted his proposal is “a bit radical."
“But unfortunately this is the kind of situation we are facing at the moment. We have been dealing with the housing crisis now for the last eight to 10 years and I think we need to shake it up a bit. We need to do something,” he added..
Mayo County Council is currently formulating a policy to place a tax on holiday homes, despite legal advice a tax would be unworkable.
A spokesperson for the council said the email by Mr Gilligan “did not reflect any official position of Mayo County Council at this time."
“The email you refer to is part of an internal discussion document in response to the SPC’s request for a policy on this subject. No policy has yet been formulated or adopted by the council,” they added.
Westport Fine Gael councillor and chairman of Mayo County Council’s strategic policy housing committee Peter Flynn said he would “completely dissociate” himself from Mr. Gilligan’s comments.
“I don’t think it is helpful in this debate,” Councillor Flynn said.
“We certainly need outside-the-box thinking in terms of how we fix the whole debate between holiday lets and long-term lets, but I think the whole boycott concept is crazy.
“We do need to think differently, we do need to get the balance between economic need and social need.
“Right now if you take towns like Westport in Mayo, we have people moving out every single year out of the town.
"We are losing that core, we are losing that community. The very reason people come to Westport is the people. And if you have no people living here, then we have a major problem.
“I think social responsibility has to be at the forefront of our decision-making. And ensure the core of towns like Westport are preserved.
“And the government needs to make decisions to support us on that. As councillors we can make changes.”
Independent Castlebar Councillor Michael Kilcoyne said there had only been five affordable houses built in Mayo in the last 12 years.
“I don’t blame Tom,” he said. “I blame successive governments and in particular this one and the last.
“We have one ghost estate in Castlebar – 70 units, some of them roofed and the builder walked away from them.
“I implored the council to CPO it and Enda Kenny when he was Taoiseach and now the crows are building nests in it.”
A statement issued by Mayo County Council today outlined: “At a meeting of the Housing Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) of Mayo County Council last week, the members of the SPC requested the executive of the council look to explore innovative ways to deal with the issue of activating vacant homes for use.
"As part of this work, Director of Services Tom Gilligan circulated a proposal in relation to one aspect of the issue for consideration and discussion to the membership of the SPC.
“These proposals were not intended for publication but were exclusively intended as an internal discussion document for the members in response to the SPC’s request for a potential policy around holiday homes. “
"At this point, we are not aware how this email found its way to the media.
“Mayo County Council wishes to state clearly that no policy has been formulated, discussed or adopted by the council, and this correspondence as circulated to the members of the SPC does not reflect the official position of Mayo County Council in any way. “