‘We have a crisis with housing in the county’

The priority for County Meath over the next few years is the creation of jobs and every opportunity must be availed of in reaching that target so that people can live and work in the county in which they live, wiping out the need to undergo daily commutes to Dublin and elsewhere, the outgoing Cathaoirleach of Meath Co Council said this week.

As Cllr Nick Killian prepares to depart from his role after a year in office, he has reflected on what he terms “a good year” for the county but he says that the authorities must build on the success of bringing major companies like Facebook and MSD into the county. “Let’s not forget either the great work that is being done by small businesses in Meath and the entrepreneurs who have started up businesses. Going forward we need to support them in any way we can”. The local Enterprise Office was working hard to support and mentor people and to give them constant encouragement in the creation of employment.

Towns and villages will expand over the coming years and that expansion will bring jobs to those areas, he says.

In an interview with the Meath Chronicle he pours over issues like the need for more jobs in the county, the “detrimental” role of the planning regulator in the development of Meath, the “crisis” in housing in the county, his busy year as the county’s leading citizen, and his pride in being able to greet the Ladies GAA SFC All-Ireland champions back into the county after their spectacular win.

Turning to the housing situation and examining the council’s record in providing new homes for a growing population he says that “it’s not what it should be” .

“I’ve been preaching – and I’ve been told I’ve been preaching – about housing since 2011 and what I predicted in 2014 – the upcoming crisis – has actually happened. We were lax in not pushing forward in 2014 and 2015. What annoys me at the moment is that there are so many schemes and innovations being announced but we simply don’t know where we are at the present time”.

He says the Government is “putting its finger in the air and saying ‘this scheme will work and that scheme will work’ but nobody is coming onto the ground and asking our [councillors’] view”. Only for the housing associations (approved bodies) in Meath the county would be a lot worse off, he says. We are too dependent on developers to provide houses through Part V means, he maintains. Asked about the home rental situation in the county he simply says “it’s not there”. “Every day there are people contacting me about housing and sometimes I listen to horrific situations where families are living in overcrowded conditions with all the stresses and strains this brings. We have a crisis in housing in the county. Our average housing list is 4,000 and that has not reduced in 10 years”.

Referring to crime rates in Meath, he says that there is still a lot of anti-social behaviour but there aren’t enough gardai to deal effectively with it. “We don’t have enough gardai in our districts. “We have the lowest number of gardai per head of population. Those who are retiring are simply not being replaced. Ten gardai have retired in my own area and they were replaced by two. We are lucky in that our chief superintendent has committed himself to the development of community policing and that’s working because they are out in the schools and visible on the ground”.

Would he agree that the recently-announced financial returns for the county council show that it has “plenty of money” available for the running of the county. “I wouldn’t say plenty but we’re doing OK. We’re still one of the lowest financed counties in the country in terms of inward investment from the central government. We are still operating on 2016 census figures. That’s daft. We need to get the census figures published so that when we’re looking at next year’s budget our projections will be based on the factual position as to the number of people living in the county”.

He feels strongly that that recently completed county development plan 2021-2027 (which came into effect on 3rd November last year) was based on “out of date” population figures. The preliminary results of the 2022 Census (published in June last year) showed an increase in population in Meath of 25,000 (12.9 per cent) over the 2016 figures to a total population of 220,296. Longford showed the biggest increase (+14 per cent), followed by Meath, and then Fingal and Kildare (+11 per cent each

The input and role of the planning regulator “has not been helpful as far as Meath is concerned”, Cllr Nick Killian says. “In fact, it has been detrimental going forward. Yes, we have zoned land and we did zone land over the years in parts of the county where development would never take place but to restrict development where people want to live in the middle of a housing crisis, where the Office of the Planning Regulator is dictating to local councillors who know their areas and know what needs to be done, is crazy. Legislation has to be introduced and the regulator’s office reviewed and turned around so that we [councillors] are listened to and not just people behind a desk in Dublin”.

His year as cathaoirleach was a particularly busy one due to the fact that for the previous two years his predecessors as cathaoirligh were more or less “confined to base” because of the Covid-19 pandemic. A general “opening up” of society only took place in June or July last year leading to a rush of invitations to the county council to have its chairman represent it at functions and events throughout the country.

“From my point of view it was a great honour to be elected cathaoirleach of the council and I made the decision all along that I would enjoy the year and commit to do the best job possible for the county. And that’s the way it turned out. It has been a fantastic year, a hugely busy year. The welcome I got, particularly from the small communities, it was just terrific. It’s amazing that after 24 years in public office I know so many people around the county and that helped in the good welcome that I got”. He has had some experience of being in that particular post, having been cathaoirleach in 2007-2008. This time around, the structure of his office has changed.

People generally are proud of the office of cathaoirleach and expect him/her to be available. That point was well interested during this interview when he had to break off to do a live radio interview.

He can recalls many highlights of his year in office but he took particular pleasure in standing in the Square in Navan to welcome the Meath GAA ladies team home after winning the All-Ireland SFC title.

“It was a wet and miserable evening but there was a lot of joy in Navan that night. The Púca Festival in Trim was another highlight and he took personal pride in having the annual conference of the Association of Irish Local Government (AILG) in the Knightsbrook Hotel in Trim.