WICKLOW COUNTY councillors have passed a motion to remove convicted sex offenders “and those who consort” with them from the local authority housing list.
The move follows the weekend fire at a house in the village of Ashford which was due to be occupied by the family of a convicted sex offender.
The motion was passed at a special meeting of the council yesterday afternoon following repeated failed attempts to house the family.
Proposed by the Labour Party’s Conal Kavanagh and seconded by Jimmy Shaughnessy, also of Labour, the motion stated that current policy be amended to ensure that those with a conviction for sex offences are removed from the housing list. It also stated that “those who consort” with those convicted of sex offences would also be “excluded” from the housing list.
The measure will have to be approved by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government before it can be implemented.
A second motion tabled by Labour councillor Nicky Kelly and also passed unanimously asked that councillors be informed of all housing allocations and transfers being proposed by the council 10 days before they are implemented.
Standing orders were suspended at yesterday’s county council meeting to allow the councillors to debate the two motions.
As councillors arrived for the meeting, more than 100 people from Ashford and other areas staged a protest on the matter.
The demonstration later moved to the HSE office in the town.
The residents were quick to point out that they had nothing to do with Sunday’s night’s fire that damaged the house on the Woodview Estate in Ashford shortly before midnight.
It took almost two hours for appliances from Wicklow and Rathdrum to bring the fire under control. Gardaí investigating the fire said the blaze started in the sittingroom area.
The end-of-terrace house, which was empty at the time, was due to be occupied by the family of a man who has an 18-year-old conviction for a sex offence. The man was given a six-month suspended sentence in 1992 for having unlawful carnal knowledge of a minor.
He cannot be named in order to protect the identity of his victim.
Michael Nicholson, director of services at the council, told yesterday’s council meeting that a background check and an assessment by the Granada Institution found the man to be in a “low-risk” category.
Mr Kavanagh, who proposed yesterday’s motion, said he “totally condemned” the fire which he described as “a terrible turn of events”.
He said the situation had been exploited by “a small group of vandals” whose actions resulted in “one house less” being available for social housing.
However, he defended the views of the local community, who met at a public meeting on Friday to voice opposition to the family moving in. He suggested a “sheltered housing-type arrangement” managed by the HSE could provide a solution for the family.
Wicklow County Council has attempted to house the family several times in recent months but, on each occasion, local opposition has prevented the family from moving in.