The number of houses in Mayo represents 3% of the overall national housing stock. Despite this, according to a recent GeoDirectory report, the proportion of dereliction in Mayo represents 14% of the national rate. That is extraordinary. Dereliction is a scourge on our towns and blight on our communities. Many homes have been abandoned for decades and have essentially been left to rodents and bats. That is what is happening. Mayo has had an average of two compulsory purchase orders, CPOs, over the past ten years. We need to resource local authorities in the context of dereliction levies and CPOs . We also need to set targets to ensure that action is happening. We are rudderless in respect of this matter, and communities are struggling. I know of communities in which people are worried because slates are falling off buildings. That is how bad things are in certain towns and villages. We need targets for local authorities and we need to resource local authorities. We must have metrics.

Sentiment score: -0.05