SECURITY IS STEPPED UP AT HOUSING CLINIC AFTER INCIDENT

WEXFORD County Council has put security arrangements in place at a weekly housing clinic in the County Hall in Carricklawn following an ‘incident’ in which it is understood a member of the public became aggressive towards staff.

A security guard is now on duty at the drop-in clinic which offers a chance for people to engage directly with staff members about housing matters in- cluding applications for social homes, transfers, emergency accommodation and rent support schemes etc.

The arrangement is ‘an interim measure following a recent incident at one of the housing clinics’, a Council spokesperson confirmed this week.

The spokesman declined to outline the exact nature of the incident which gave rise to the increased security arrangements.

‘The Council does not discuss in- dividual cases but I can confirm that the incident is being reviewed by the Council’, he said.

‘A series of measures to deal with issues identified in the review are being considered at present’, he added.

There have been previous reports about Council staff being the target of threats and verbal abuse from angry applicants frustrated over delays in being allocated houses, especially during the recession

when no houses were constructed.

The local authority has been making significant progress in the building of houses r the past two years thanks to increased Government funding with almost 2,800 social housing units on track to be delivered in County Wexford in the period 2017 to 2019, according to senior housing officials.

At a Council meeting last week, councillors complained about some staff receiving abuse from members of the public during Storm Emma.

‘The Housing Department are getting that all the time’, remarked Cllr. Michael Sheehan.