Louth tenants left 'mortified' after finding out they were part of €4m rent arrears
Louth Councillors called for changes to Louth County Council's rent collection system to tackle the near €4 million rent arrears owed to the local authority
Some Louth County Council tenants have been left "mortified" to find out they have fallen into rent arrears with the local authority according to Cathaoirleach, Cllr Seán Kelly.
At the April meeting of Louth County Council, members called on the local authority to do more to tackle the near €4 million that is owed to the Council in rent arrears.
Dundalk councillor Maeve Yore questioned if Louth County Council could take rents at source from tenants.
She said there are "genuine tenants who want to pay their rent and are paying their rent, but want the €4 million debtors to pay".
"I explained to them that it's a national Government policy. Is there anything we can send to force the Government to take the rent at source? Tenants were saying to us that it’s impacting on their maintenance for their house," she said.
Sinn Féin councillor Kevin Meenan said the issue of rent arrears is something that comes up "quite frequently" and said the Council needs to do more to "detangle" people who refuse to pay their rent from those who have not received a rent review.
"People have gotten rent reviews, found out they owe extra money and suddenly had accrued a debt of two or three thousand euro all overnight, and we’re lumping them in with the same people who do not pay their rent on a weekly basis which is completely different," he said.
Cllr Meenan said the Council needs adequate staffing to conduct regular rent reviews.
"If we were doing them every six months, within three years you would see that €4 million decimated. Be clear, the people who do not pay and don’t want to pay are different from people who are out there busting their arse working," he said.
Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council, Cllr Seán Kelly said "there is a cohort of people who are quite frankly, mortified when they realise they haven’t been paying the proper rent and want it rectified".
"You can tell the difference between people who are in that scenario and are trying to rectify it," he said.
Ger Murphy, Director of Housing Delivery with Louth County Council told councillors the local authority has already received over €4 million in rental income in the first quarter of 2026, and said that it expects it to increase as a result of additional units that are coming on stream.
In terms of collecting rent at source, Mr Murphy said the local authority has to work within "the Government parameters" but said it is looking at "every way possible to make it easier for our tenants to pay their rent".
He said "there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes" to tackle the rent arrears figure, but added it will take "quite some time" before there is a significant change to the overall figure, saying there is a "hump to get over".
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