Answers sought over boarded up parochial house

A former priest’s residence in Waterford, which is now derelict, was the subject of council questioning this week.

Cllr Seanie Power outlined in February that the old priest’s house in Clonea-Power could be developed for social housing.

He commented further on the issue this week saying that the house has become increasingly unsightly.

“With the priest’s house as it’s known in Clonea-Power, it was taken over by the council a number of years ago. It’s vacant there now and it’s all boarded up, while there’s people in Clonea-Power waiting on houses.

“There's also quite a big garden in front of the house and it’s fairly overgrown, there’s a lot of great work being done by the Tidy Village group in Clonea-Power and it’s just all very unsightly there at that house.” 

In response to Cllr Power’s query, Claire Hartley, Senior Executive Officer with Waterford City and County Council said: “In regard to the priest’s house, that is currently out for tender. 

"There are currently eight vacancies in the Comeragh district at the moment and five of those are out to tender.”