A senior manager at Mayo County Council has defended his call for a boycott of holiday homeowners.
“We are in the middle of a housing crisis. It’s very important that we look at all options, nothing is off the table,” Tom Gilligan, the council’s director of services with responsibility for housing and roads, told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
When asked whether he regretted his use of the word “boycott” in the email he sent to members of the local authority’s strategic policy committee (SPC) on housing, he said he did not.
[ The fascinating origins of 'boycott' and other wordsOpens in new window ]
“The word boycott has been around since the 19th century. It originated in Mayo. Governments have used it, individuals have used it to try to bring pressure in order to get things done.
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“Nothing is off the table and we are looking at a number of options in relation to Mayo. We’re looking at the whole idea in relation to a holiday home tax, we’re looking in relation to compulsory purchase orders.” Mr Gilligan explained he had sent the email to members of the council’s housing SPC, which is made up of 11 members, seven elected councillors and four non-elected members.
“I emailed them a proposal on Sunday night in relation to the whole idea of dealing with holiday homes and vacant holiday homes. According to the 2022 census, there are 5,987 holiday homes in Mayo. And in the middle of a housing crisis, we need homes for people, not just for seasons. So the objective around this proposed boycott is to highlight the impact of underused housing stock on local communities, encourage policy reform and taxation measures on vacant second homes. And also to push holiday homeowners to either return properties for sale to the rental market or to the long-term rental market.
“I’m not trying to demonise holiday homeowners here. I’m not trying to blame anyone in relation to this, but we are in the middle of a housing crisis. We have people that are on our housing list, we have people that currently have been provided temporary emergency accommodation. And we have nearly 6,000 holiday homes here that are vacant either nine, 10 or 11 months of the year. And people are welcome to Mayo. I mean, from a tourism point of view, it’s absolutely vital that we get people coming into the town.”
Mr Gilligan pointed out that the word boycott was synonymous with Mayo because of Capt Charles Cunningham Boycott, whom he described as an absentee landlord. “The local community at the time took it upon themselves to try a form of civil protest,” he said. “It’s very important that we should never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed citizens can change the world.”
Mr Gilligan said his proposal was about “demanding accountability” from holiday homeowners. “It is about trying to get these underutilised, vacant, empty homes back into use.”
A spokeswoman for Mayo County Council said the proposal was circulated by Mr Gilligan for consideration and discussion by the SPC members. This followed the committee’s request to examine “innovative ways to deal with the issue of activating vacant homes for use”, she said.
The spokeswoman said the proposals responding to the SPC were “not intended for publication but were exclusively intended as an internal discussion document for the members” seeking a potential policy around holiday homes. The council is “not aware how this email found its way to the media”, she said.
The local authority “wishes to state clearly that no policy has been formulated, discussed or adopted”, and this correspondence as circulated to the committee members of “does not reflect the official position of Mayo County Council in any way”, she added.
