NAAS 10 January 2003: People who leave their local authority houses in poor condition 'shouldn't get away scot free', Cllr Willie Callaghan believes.
He was commenting on figures in the Naas Town Council 2003 Budget which showed that in 2002 the council had spent E31,000 on repairs to houses which had been vacated by tenants, and almost E32,000 on re-wiring council houses before they were re-let.
"I don't think we should accept the condition in which some of these houses are handed back," Cllr Callaghan said at this week's Budget meeting.
But town clerk Declan Kirrane said the reality was that it would be 'extremely difficult' to pursue the former tenants for the cost of repairs. And he said that if a house which had been handed back did not have wiring to meet current standards, it had to be rewired.
"And I think that an average of E3,000 per house for rewiring is very reasonable today," he added.
