Moneydig woman, Patricia McQuillan MBE prides herself on being the voice for Housing Executive tenants in rural communities.
As secretary of Moneydig Rural Network, earlier this year Patricia also scooped the Rural Community Champion Award 2020 in the Housing Executive’s Rural Community Awards.
Patricia has been involved in the Central Housing Forum for 21 years where she is vice chair, and is the chair of the Rural Residents Forum - sitting on seven working groups for them.
She was a Housing Executive tenant for three years before purchasing her home through the Right to Buy Scheme.
Patricia strives to help rural communities and says there is a need for more social housing in areas such as Moneydig.
“The Housing Executive has done a lot of work in rural areas and carries out housing needs tests perfectly.
“However, it’s getting the housing associations on-board and there will be a lot of work to get rural dwellings up to standard.
“There’s a lady here who remembers when the homes were council owned and then the Housing Executive came on-board and it was only then they got bathrooms, running water and electricity.
“They have made big changes. All the houses have nice new windows, they have a nice new kitchen, and we hope to be getting a shared space in our green area.”
Patricia, who received an MBE for her Services to the Rural Community seven years ago, prides herself on the lengths Moneydig Rural Network went to during the Covid-19 crisis.
She continued: “The group also received the Rural Community Spirit Award 2020 in the Rural Awards which was lovely.
Moneydig Rural Network started in 2011 when new mammies came into the area and when they closed the doors at night, they felt very isolated and this developed.
“During Covid-19 we helped at least 2,000 families in the year and we were very busy. We ended up having to hire a bus, which the Housing Executive helped us pay for because we were doing that much.”
Patricia said she loves representing tenants in the area and enjoys a good working relationship with local Patch Manager, Roisin Hamilton.
Watch our interview with Patricia.
