Waterford City and County Council is currently seeking expressions of interest for the affordable element of the long-awaited social and affordable housing scheme for Ardmore.
The project has been beset with complications and delays. In September this year, the Department of Housing signaled its unwillingness to proceed with an application.
There has been widespread anger locally over the failure to confront the growing housing crisis in the village over recent decades.
Speaking to WLRfm, Local Sinn Fein Councillor, Conor McGuinness said:
“I welcome this call by Waterford Council for expressions of interest as part of plans to develop an affordable housing scheme in Ardmore. This is effectively a fact-finding exercise to measure demand but an important step in challenging the reticent from the Department to provide adequate funding.
“As we all know the wheels fell off the last bid to develop social houses in Ardmore due to the unwillingness of the Minister for Housing and his Department to provide the necessary capital.
“There is a real and urgent need for delivery of affordable, social, and private housing for families from Ardmore and the surrounding area.
“The village is under huge pressure due to the prevalence of holiday homes and the fact that young families from the area are unable to set up homes locally or to raise families in their own community.
“The lack of action and urgency by the local political establishment over two decades and more is nothing short of negligent. That this situation has been allowed to develop and worsen on the watch of successive Fianna Fáil and Gael governments is lost on no one.
