Pandemic has been ‘catalyst’ for house purchases in Sligo
THE Covid pandemic has been the catalyst for people to move out of Dublin and buy houses in Sligo and other counties in the west, a local estate agent has said.
And the move has been a factor in pushing up property demand and prices locally in the past year. Roger McCarrick of REA McCarrick and Sons of Tubbercurry and Sligo said: “A lot of buyers are originally from the west but we also get people who are fed up with Dublin. “They’ve been thinking of moving for a number of years but the pandemic has been the catalyst.” He reported that buyers were keen to relocate to the west coast during the pandemic and prices rose locally last year and are expected to increase further this year. Mr McCarrick was quoted in a property price guide published in last weekend’s Sunday Times, which predicted an average increase of 5% in Sligo property prices in 2021. The CSO median price of a house in Sligo town is €140,000 and Mr McCarrick said that town prices had maintained an increase of an average of 5% last year.
“We hit a stumbling block during the lockdown, but when the market reopened, people were more anxious than ever to get on the property ladder. “There was an increased appetite for purchasing and we had multiple bidders on good quality homes. People didn’t lose the run of themselves. They knew the value of the property they wanted but they were keen to get deals over the line.” Mr McCarrick said that rents sat at about €950 a month for a typical three-bedroom detached house and first time buyers who remained employed during successive lockdowns were able to save enough for a deposit. He said that prices had yet to catch up with development costs so there had been little in the way of any new schemes. But he said that phase two of Farmhill Manor on the Strandhill Road is due to be launched in the coming weeks, with prices starting at €289,000. In relation to properties out the county, the property guide reported that as well as people moving from Dublin, estate agents had noticed “a steady flow of inquiries from Northern Ireland, Britain and the Continent”. Mr McCarrick said: “Rural properties are in great demand. Property in the west of Ireland is attractive right now because there’s great value to be had. You can get a three-bedroom semi for between €100,000 and €150,000.”
The guide reports that the CSO median price for a house in rural Sligo (based on the Ballymote-Tubbercurry electoral area) is €105,075.
It stated that there was very little development in the county last year.
The new homes that did come on the market tended to be self-builds or on estates that were started 15 years ago and were only now being finished. It said that homes in “sought-after Strandhill continued to command a premium”.
The Sunday Times guide also got the views of local jewellry designer Martina Hamilton of the Cat and the Moon shop on Castle Street in Sligo about the attractions of Sligo. Martina said that Sligo is “populated by creatives”. “A huge amount of artistic people come here. You could throw a rock and you’re going to meet a writer or musician and all top-class musicians. They have a connection with the west of Ireland. Living here, you almost take that for granted.”
She spoke of how living beside the sea at Lissadell inspires her jewellry.
“We live beside a wood overlooking a little beach and it’s a fantastic place to live. At a time when most people were leaving, we decided to put down roots and we’ve never regretted it. Once a discovered the relationship with the landscape, with the sea,I found my voice.
The paper reports how she opened the Cat and the Moon in 1989 as a craft shop selling the work of local artists, including her own and since then “she has become world renowned and was commissioned to make a piece for Barack Obama.” She said she works on the best street in the town “because we have Kate’s Kitchen next door, a fabulous delicatessen. Their coffee is the best”.
She recommended Langs bar and restaurant in Grange, along with Davis’s restaurant in Drumcliffe for a bit to eat. As a “hidden gem”, she selected “a spot at the end of the 3kms long Streedagh beach”, which she described as “heavenly”. “You can see for miles. There is a panorama of Sligo and Donegal. It is just a rocky outcropping but you feel like you are on your own little island. The light is gorgeous there,” she said.
A GUY WHO taught me most of what I know about jazz piano had a stroke in June. A bad one. His independence has been diminished and he is facing a long and expensive period of rehabilitation. His name is Phil Ware.
He’s an Englishman living in Dublin, and was a tutor on the Sligo Jazz Project for quite a few years and a regular visitor to this part of the world. I recently saw a beautiful post on Facebook about him, written by another ex-student of his – Greg Felton – who clearly had stayed in touch with Phil, and later became friends with him.
I didn’t have that type of relationship with Phil. When it came down to it, I don’t think I liked or understood jazz piano to the same level as he did and this made it more difficult to connect in this regard. I possibly didn’t practise enough for his liking either!
I do remember a great honest chat we had upstairs in McGarrigle’s one night though – late on in the thick of one of the famous Sligo Jazz jam sessions. This was a few years after he had taught me, and I hadn’t seen him since. I brought up a time he had pulled me up for missing a lesson and not telling him I wouldn’t be there, and he brought up a time he had gone to London to record with some of his heroes and they didn’t really acknowledge him. We spoke about standards, respect, and coming to terms with the fact that there’ll always be someone who can do things on the piano that you can’t.
But he was good to me, and had a huge impact. Subtly in each lesson, he softly but firmly let me know what it takes to be an accomplished jazz pianist, and even though I wasn’t quite there, he got me a couple of really good gigs when I left college. And he is such a good player – I would happily sit and watch him for hours.
In his tribute, Greg wrote of a night when a regular on the Dublin Jazz scene asked him in JJ Smyth’s how he was getting on. Greg mentioned that he was teaching a good bit. “Ah,” said the man, “those who can’t, teach.” Phil, who was one of the most respected musicians on that scene, intervened and said: “Actually, his practice sessions sound better than my gigs.”
Because Phil knew how wrong that statement was. He could play better than most, yet he taught too, and his influence on my playing, and that of Greg’s, other Sligo pianists, and many others all around the world, will be there forever.
And he will play and teach again, we all hope – there’s just a bit of work to do first.
Phil is in need now. And many of his friends are musicians who have been out of work for months. So if any of you are inclined, you can donate to Phil’s rehabilitation on gofundme.com – look for The Fund for Phil. Thanks.
Kieran Quinn plays piano and brings people together in music. He can be contacted by email at kieran@kieranquinn.ie. More at kieranquinn.blog
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