Housing remains Mayo's Achilles heel as recession fears escalate
Elected members of Mayo County Council have been informed that the local authority has returned a budget surplus for the seventh successive year.
Director of finance Peter Duggan gave a whistle-stop tour of the accounts from the top table of the ballroom at the council's most recent statutory meeting held the Broadhaven Bay Hotel, Belmullet.
He was applauded by all councillors for the prudent and meticulous work by him and his finance team.
To be in the black is always welcome news and Mr. Duggan has steadied the ship during his stewardship.
But Fine Gael Councillor Jarlath Munnelly did ponder whether finances have been handled too prudently, while Independent Harry Barrett queried the underspend on housing grants and called for an alarm to be raised in the final quarter when representatives can be made aware that funds have been freed up.
Councillor Barrett noted how these are crucial grants for housing adaptation, stairlifts, downstairs bathrooms and that there is no shortage of people who would need them.
His independent colleague, Patsy O'Brien, queried the number of people rejected for these grants, people who he believes should get the funding but lose out narrowly due to government criteria.
The parameters of these grants are set beyond the pay grade of the local authority, with the council top table recounting how they erred on the side of caution when budgeting for those schemes.
Peter Duggan made hints toward potential headwinds ahead this year as the world has been plunged into crisis since Trump's decision to upend global energy markets.
When addressing councillors' concerns, he said: "We don't need to tell you the amount of financial uncertainty out there, things are very much unstable. If there is a downturn in the economy..."
Fears regarding a sudden economic downturn are founded in solid reasoning.
The continuing escalation in the price of oil, despite government intervention, will almost certainly impact all corners of life in the county through rising costs.
No one can safely predict the future economic outlook of the nation, but we have never survived unscathed when international markets go haywire.
We need prudent stewards of our money, we may yet be grateful for these underspends when the time comes to really tighten our belts.
The financial director also highlighted the scale of Mayo County Council's major spend that goes back into the local economy, but we really do not want to be in a situation where the bulk of our local economy is kept running by public sector expenditure.
That is a worst-case scenario in the context of the fallout from the global energy crisis.
Councillors will look at the current climate and the incessant phone calls from constituents fearful for their own housing situation. These, I'm told, still amount to 90 per cent of the representations they are dealing with.
It is a housing emergency that has not abated.
With record numbers of notices to quit flagged by the RTB ahead of March's new rental rules, 134 notices were issued in Q4 2025 and 129 in Q1 of 2026 — a total of 263 notices to quit issued to Mayo renters since the budget announcement that signalled the shift in tenancy rules.
The call for a dedicated housing liaison officer in each of the municipal districts, raised by Councillor Marie Therese Duffy (FG) and seconded by Coucillor Annie May Reape (FF), aims to give a named contact for constituents who find themselves in housing difficulties and most importantly a name for councillors to discuss issues with.
The Fianna Fáil representative said there are major problems with staff retention and with knowing who to contact on housing matters.
"Staff are suffering. If we had one person specifically dealing with housing, because it is a learning process, there is no point in having one person today and another one next week."
She called on the local authority to appoint a single dedicated housing contact that councillors could liaise with on behalf of their constituents.
It was a noble request from the two Ballina councillors, and Joanne Grehan (director of services) promised it will be looked at and discussed at the next meeting.
Housing will not be going away anytime soon and fears of construction costs hitting the roof may mean less homes built than the initial target.
That will not be good news for councillors' call logs, and will cost the local authority a lot more in homeless spend and HAP well into the future if homes are not built.