A whole lot left to do - housing a top priority for councillors in Mayo

POLITICS: ALL IRELAND WHINGERS COLUMN

A well-meaning, comprehensive speech by newly minted cathaoirleach Seán Carey hit all the right notes, but he knows his year in the top chair will be defined by one issue: housing.

As an Erris-based representative with deep roots in rural community work and a long-standing focus on agricultural affairs, Carey is no stranger to pressing local needs. Yet it is the persistent housing question that tops all priorities.

Much like his party’s Minister James Browne, there is no escaping the urgency of housing local people as quickly as possible, to address the immense backlog and ensure there is not another lost generation.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael both know their political futures hang in the balance. With few years left to resolve the greatest political and social crisis of our time, they have staked their credibility on fixing the housing blockage, placing the burden squarely on their own shoulders.

Their core voters are shrinking as the number of homeowners in their base reduces - an existential crisis for the party combo based on stability.

At the county council’s ceremonial handover, where outgoing cathaoirleach John O’Hara was lauded and Corclough’s Seán Carey welcomed, one lone voice rang from the fringes, both of his party and the chamber’s horseshoe. Blackie Gavin took the moment, in front of cabinet Minister Dara Calleary and Senator Ollie Crowe, who had taken time from Oireachtas duties to celebrate their Fianna Fáil colleague’s ascent, to issue a familiar critique of local government.

Gavin used the platform not just to reflect on his Castlebar Town Council heyday but to decry the 2014 abolition of town councils under the Local Government Act, calling every day since an unmitigated disaster. He painted a bleak picture, that the worst days of his political career have been spent in the very chamber he now occupies.

One wonders what Minister Calleary made of Gavin’s remarks.

Calleary has found Castlebar a frustrating capital. His party colleague Lisa Chambers failed to cross the line in November, and Gavin appears just as eager to plant one foot outside the party as he is to jab the other firmly into it.

Still, some solace came from Al McDonnell, who became cathaoirleach of his MD and sided with his colleagues who delivered a lengthy list of issues to Calleary, and, with a wink, quipped that the Ballina man "has the blank cheque in his back pocket" to fix them all.

McDonnell’s election was notable in itself, requiring votes from two Fine Gael colleagues to secure the chair of the district for just the third time in his nearly 40-year career. It was a historic moment and a sign that the two main parties now function as one within the corridors of Mayo County Council as relations remain positive after last year’s coalition agreement.

Fine Gael’s Michael Burke, one of Fine Gael’s three MD heads, in Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District, also placed housing squarely at the top of his agenda.

In the Westport-Belmullet Municipal District, Housing SPC chair Peter Flynn echoed the same, speaking cogently on the need to address the backlog. But it was Flynn’s comments congratulating Carey that struck the most compelling chord at the AGM.

Flynn lamented that "Mayo is appearing for very negative stories and commentary nationally," calling it a reflection of "a disappointing year for the county," and warned, "We need to turn that juggernaut around, we are heading in the wrong direction."

Flynn, no stranger to clashes with the executive, from the boycott debacle to chronic underfunding of local projects and to carpark upkeep, knows Carey well, having seen him serve as his chair for two consecutive years in the Westport-Belmullet Municipal District. "A good apprenticeship," he noted. “If you can survive that, you can survive anything.”

Flynn went on to urge Carey to "familiarise yourself with your powers. We often underestimate what a cathaoirleach can do." A nod to unsettle and to throw his weight around to get projects off the ground when faced with negativity by the CEO.

Elsewhere, the AGM saw a minor episode of political point-scoring. Carey promised his family, friends and colleagues who travelled in from the peninsula to address the long-maligned, winding R312.

Chris Maxwell, never shy in missing a beat, quickly raised the deteriorating surface of the Westport–Louisburgh R335, but Fianna Fáil’s Michael Loftus had the final say, reminding everyone that those in the western district are the lucky ones.

Turning to Carey and the Louisburgh native, in the most Monty Python moment of last week’s meeting: "You at least have two lanes on your roads. The road from Crossmolina to Lahardane, the R315, narrows to a single lane. I hope a solution is brought forward on that," the former cathaoirleach stressed.

All roads, whether narrow, winding, or two-lane, lead to a tumultuous but promising year for Carey and his fellow councillors. Housing is as they say, their top priority. It will need to be reflected in the budget if so.

James Browne published a 'league table' of social housing delivery by each local authority. It comes as no surprise that Mayo is far from the top, but with the power held by Browne and his party from The Eagle Bar to Buswells, there will be no excuse accepted by the electorate if the issue remains unresolved.

Many of the more realistic disposition fear that housing will continue to be our emergency long after Carey hangs up his hat-trick of chains.