Hopes rise that work will finally end
Residents of the seven-house Radharc na hEaglaise estate, who have put up with a range of problems for seven years, had been pressurising the council without much success.
Families are afraid to allow children out to play because of the conditions which they regard as dangerous.
But it was a demand for payment of the property tax that really had the residents up in arms. “We have been paying for gravel to keep the road in some sort of shape so that we can drive in and out, and then comes a letter looking for the property tax,” said Aidan Walsh, the residents’ association chairman.
The estate is exempt from the household charge but he said they were considering an appeal against the property tax. Mr Walsh, a father of three, said the five families in the estate were becoming ever more frustrated and felt they were being treated unfairly.
“I’ve been sent from one member of the council staff to the other and we were always left hoping something would eventually be done,” he said.
“The road in the estate is terrible. My cars have failed the NCT test twice because of broken shocks and suspensions.”
The council has installed a water pump and is dealing with sewage problems, but the estate has no public lighting and is left in pitch darkness at night.
Another resident, Shaz Malik, said the association had been contacting the council every week in its efforts to get the work completed. “We obviously welcome the arrival of the council and we’re hoping work on the estate will be finished by the end of the month. But we’re keeping our fingers crossed as we have been made promises in the past,” he said.
He suggested visits to the estate by the media may have prompted the council “to move faster than it had done for four years”.
Houses in Radharc na hEaglaise were bought for €350,000 to €430,000 during the boom but are now worth substantially less.
The council said it will carry out further works to finish the estate, including improving the road.
nMeanwhile, there are estates where there has been marginal improvements.
In Gleann Ull in Ballyhooly, Co Cork, the situation has improved somewhat from the building site which many residents were forced to look at.
A high wall has been built which blocks off the area of constructed houses and turns it into a separate cul-de-sac from the site where no development has taken place. A boundary wall has also been built.
Tarmacing of the road has been completed, though a section of the footpath is still to be completed.
Street lighting is also still outstanding.
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