Call for emergency funding for unfinished developments

IT was meant to be one of Ireland’s best tax relief schemes for investors during the boom. And in a scenic area outside the Leitrim town of Drumshanbo, the apparent low prices for a home in the little estate of Cnoc an Iuir must have been also very attractive for young buyers at the time.

Today sections of the estate are a sad reminder of the excess of the boom. Unfinished pathways, building materials, wooden pallets, timber poles and construction refuse litter the ghost-like estate.

Local representatives say a phase of its construction during the beginning of the economic downturn saw one of Cnoc an Iuir’s developers run out of cash. The remaining houses out of the 40-plus unit scheme are unlikely now ever to be sold.

But Cnoc an Iuir is by no means the exception. The phenomena of ‘ghost estates’ where developments are left, unfinished, with many vacant units and a lack of facilities is an emerging problem for many local authorities.

It was simply a case that when everyone stopped buying houses, the developers stopped building. The result is a blight on Ireland’s countryside and towns.

Not far from the unfinished estate of Cnoc an Iuir lies another incomplete development. Just a handful of homes are occupied.

According to local Fine Gael councillor Enda McGloin even the most basic of facilities have still to be provided for the few individuals living there.

“There’s no public lighting and there are timber frame houses which have not been completed and are exposed to the elements.

“Something has to happen and whether the scheme gets taken into NAMA or gets sold or even finished, remains to be seen.”

Mr McGloin said there has to be a policy on how to deal with such estates.

“Unless the Government provides some sort of emergency funding for these estates, very little will happen. If the infrastructure parts of these estates is finished, I don’t see them as being a blight on the area. You want to see some future for them.

“There’s going to be people living there in time and if they haven’t got proper lighting or infrastructure, or defected roads or footpaths, they’re going to be frustrated people and will want answers and some form of funding coming from the Department of Environment or local government.”