Mayo property 'not suitable' for emergency accommodation

THE suitability of a premises in Balla, which is being used as homeless accommodation, has again been questioned by a local councillor.

Councillor Donna Sheridan is concerned that there are no on-site staff in The Olde Woods and also that people within the Castlebar Municipal District (MD) are not being housed there.

The property is also used to house people who have fled the war in Ukraine.

She has submitted a number of Freedom of Information requests in relation to the property, she told the monthly MD meeting this week.

The property, she said, has been used for emergency accomodation since July 31, 2025, it was confirmed in response to those requests. None of the councillors were told of that fact, she added.

There has been nobody from the district housed in Balla. They are all from outside the MD, she said.

And there was, she continued, a person in court, on bail, who was barred from a different part of the county, and their address was given as this premises.

This, she said, had been confirmed by two different people who were in court.

“It is not an accommodation for homeless people of our district, or homeless families,” she said. “It is not a suitable location.”

There are people with difficulties, not from the area, and with no one on site, and it was 'really concerning'.

Councillor Sheridan said she would continue to seek all the facts through Freedom of Information.

They need to do everything they can for homeless people, she said, highlighting how the Charlestown centre is an 'example of good practice', with staff on site.

“This is not working,” she added, in relation to Balla, saying she hoped her council colleagues would support her in saying the premises is not suitable.

Councillor Michael Kilcoyne said people should be accommodated in their own areas, and people from Balla or the surrounding areas who find themselves homeless should get first preference in this premises.

At the start of her contribution, Councillor Sheridan said how last month a press release had been issued which said she had made a statement not based on fact.

Her character, she said, had never been called into question in such a way, and at no time did she misinform the meeting or the media.

She said the building was being used as homeless accommodation, as well as housing people from Ukraine, and she had fact-checked with the director of services.

She felt it was inappropriate as there is no one on-site full time and she stood by that.

Since that meeting she had put in Freedom of Information requests to two different bodies.

Cathaoirleach Councillor Al McDonnell said the facts he repeated at the last meeting appeared to be accurate, and no one had suggested otherwise since.

Councillor Sheridan said she accepted he made his comments in good faith, as she did.

It wasn't suitable, she reiterated, and she wanted to highlight it.