“Sixty houses were left idle in the Wexford area over Christmas because the government didn’t give Wexford County Council adequate funding to renovate them,” claimed Aontú General Election candidate Cllr Jim Codd, who added that it was a damning indictment of Wexford’s five sitting TDs that this was allowed to happen during a housing crisis.

Cllr Codd was speaking at the monthly meeting of Rosslare Municipal District Council where he rallied against what he termed “systematic incompetence” in the face of a national housing crisis.

“There are people sleeping rough across this county and our social housing waiting list continues to grow,” Cllr Codd said.  “To think that 60 houses were left empty over Christmas because our local authority didn’t have enough money to do basic renovations is sickening and a damning indictment of Wexford’s five sitting TDs.”

Cllr Codd stated that it has been confirmed to him that 60 houses were left idle over Christmas and that figure has now increased to 70.

“This can never be allowed to happen again.  I intend to make it an issue of this general election campaign that a 30-day maximum time limited be put on turning around returning council homes.  We cannot justify leaving people sleeping under the bridge and say we have no money to repair homes in a year when TDs saw their wages rise.”