Cllr called out for ‘inappropriate’ question at Kildare County Council meeting

A councillor for the Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District (MD) was criticised for an "inappropriate question" he asked at a recent Kildare County Council (KCC) meeting.

Independent Cllr Tom McDonnell faced the accusation, which was made by the Mayor of the MD, Fine Gael Cllr Peggy O'Dwyer, at the latest MD meeting on Wednesday, April 16 last.

Cllr McDonnell submitted the following question to KCC at the meeting: "Can the council provide a breakdown on the number of houses allocated in this MD in the last five years, to include social housing and which approved housing bodies / associations were involved?"

In response to his query, KCC provided a table which outlined the breakdown of KCC social allocations recorded over the past five years in the MD.

The KCC Housing Allocations from 2019 - 2024 read as follows: 161 in 2019; 149 in 2020; 130 in 2021; 114 in 2022; 257 in 2023; and 124 in 2024; bringing the total to 925.

KCC also said: "This information is not available by MD for properties provided by Approved Housing Bodies (AHB).

"The total number of housing units delivered by AHB’s in the Kildare -Newbridge MD for the past 5 years from 2020 to 2024 is 2,117, provided by Cill Dara, iCare, Co-Operative Housing, Cluid, Oaklee, Tuath, Clanmill, Circle, North and East and Cill Urni Housing Association."

Cllr McDonnell then asked KCC who exactly got the houses.

"It doesn't seem to be a good report, it's very broad," he added.

A representative of KCC replied: "That is the number of properties that we have allocated for the MD over the last five years.

"We don't have these records for the AHBs. However, we have delivered 2,117 units through AHBs [since 2019].

"That is the number of units that we [KCC] have definitely allocated."

The representative also explained that the people who were allocated housing for AHB properties were nominated by KCC, based on KCC's housing list.

Cllr Tom McDonnell is an Independent representative for the Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District. Photo credit: Kildarecoco.ie

"935 social houses were provided by KCC, and 2,117 were provided through AHBs," they clarified.

Cllr McDonnell then responded with the following question: "Were they indigenous Irish people who got them [the units]?"

Mayor O'Dwyer jumped in and explained that she took issue with Cllr McDonnell's question, referring to it as being "inappropriate".

"We need to get the information," Cllr McDonnell said, appearing to double down on his question.

"I'm not allowing the question, it's inappropriate," Mayor O'Dwyer responded, also appearing to double down on her stance.

"We need transparency, it's what we are here for," Cllr McDonnell relented.

Social Democrats Cllr Chris Pender then told Cllr McDonnell that the members were given a list on the breakdown at an MD meeting which took place a few months ago.

He added that the list showed that the majority of people who were allocated units were born in Ireland.

The KCC representative also pointed out that this meeting specifically took place in September of last year.

The figures mentioned by both the representative and Cllr Pender can be viewed here.

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