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.