Troublemakers ‘should be put out of homes’

Those responsible for anti-social behaviour in local authority estates in Tuam should be removed from the properties and taken off the housing list.

That’s what one councillor has advocated amid further claims from elected members that many incidents are not reported by neighbours who fear of being the target of ongoing abuse and intimidation.

Members of Tuam Municipal Council want to meet local Gardaí to discuss their concerns and they believe that Galway County Council and various housing organisations should also be involved in the battle to eliminate anti-social behaviour.

The matter was raised by Tuam councillor Shaun Cunniffe who said that residents did not know who to approach – the Gardaí or the Council – when incidents occur in their estates.

He said that it was often a case of the problem ‘falling between two stools’ and got getting properly addressed. That is why he is calling for a more co-ordinated approach involving all of the agencies.

The independent councillor said that if the problem persisted, then the offenders should be removed from the houses.

Cllr Pete Roche said that there were ‘a number of blackguards’ in estates in Tuam and he believed that there should be no ambiguity in how they should be dealt with.

“We have received a litany of complaints,” he said and added that they were coming from residents living beside local authority houses and houses that have been rented by the County Council from private landlords.

Cllr Roche said that there were residents “crying out for help” in an effort to resolve the situation and he believed that those who are causing the trouble should be removed from the houses.

“Let them go up a mountain where they can should and roar all they like an, in the meantime, we can allocate the houses to genuine people who are on the housing waiting list.

“We have to get rid of these unruly people who are making life a misery for people in estates where there might be 120 or 130 houses,” Cllr Roche added.

According to Cllr Karey McHugh, Galway County Council should enforce the rules with regard to tenancy arrangements.

“There are a lot of people who are afraid to make complaints to the guards as they fear their homes will be targeted at night”, she said.

She also advocated that those responsible for the anti-social behaviour should have their social welfare payments cut.

“Hit them in their pockets because that is the only way we will get their attention,” Cllr McHugh said.