St. Patrick's barracks houses to be 'gifted' to Stormont Executive

The confirmation came from the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) last week in response to an Assembly question put by Mr McKay.

He said: "It was agreed at the recent Hillsborough talks that St Patrick's Barracks in Ballymena would be one of the former military sites which would be gifted to the Executive. I would like very much to welcome the fact that the gifting of this site will include the former British military houses”.

Mr McKay had asked the First Minister and Deputy First Minister if housing at the St Patrick's barracks site in Ballymena would be given to the Executive; and to provide an update on this matter, including a likely time-scale for the handover.

The reponse from the OFMDFM pointed out: “Officials are in the early stages of discussion with the Ministry of Defence about the transfer of the site.

Under the (Hillsborough Castle) Agreement, it would be expected that disposal proceeds would be used to meet exceptional resource pressures”.

He added: “Ballymena and indeed North Antrim needs good quality social housing and additional social housing at this site will help relieve that housing need,” the SF MLA continued.

“However, we should not ignore the fact that the outgoing Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie has failed to deliver housing for this area.

"A measly 18 social houses have been built in the whole of North Antrim in the past two years. That’s the least amount of new build social houses in all 18 constituencies,” he said.

“Compare this with Lagan Valley who had 312 new social houses built in the same period, 217 in Fermanagh & South Tyrone, 179 in Newry/Armagh, 149 in Strangford, 177 in Upper Bann and 123 in North Down. The evidence shows conclusively that North Antrim is being left at the bottom of the pile when it comes to social housing and that the SDLP have presided over this disgraceful situation,” said Mr McKay.