House holds shocked by rent hikes

July 1997

Thousands of householders from west Wicklow are up in arms after being hit with huge rent increases by the local county council.

The massive increases, some up to 125 per cent, were slapped on unsuspecting householders following a funding directive from Minister for Environment, Noel Dempsey.

Householders living in council houses in such areas as Blessington, Dunlavin, Baltinglass and Stratford received letters from Wicklow County Council last week informing them of the increases.

Yesterday angry county councillors said they would not sit idly by while the people of Wicklow were being treated so unfairly.

Cllr Liam Kavanagh said he had been inundated with phone calls from concerned locals.

‘ This is a very serious situation. A lot of people are facing very substantial increases above the recommended 10 per cent.

‘Of course people who are facing these increases are the very people who can’t afford it such as the elderly and people with large families.’

He suggested the increase in rents had been introduced to make up for the shortfall in local government funding following the abolition of rates charges.