Department of Housing urged to provide funding to complete unfinished housing estates in county

The Department of Housing has been urged to provide funding to help complete the remaining unfinished housing estates across the county.

At a meeting of Roscommon County Council, Cllr Tom Crosby (Ind) proposed that a comprehensive submission be made to the Department to furnish the county with sufficient funds to complete the remaining estates.

Cllr Crosby said the funding of €266,000 set aside in this year’s budget for unfinished estates didn’t seem like a lot of money to address the remaining 75 or so unfinished housing estates in the county.

“I think it’s about time now that that shouldn’t be coming out of ratepayers or county funds. There is an onus on the Department to supply funding to complete unfinished estates. I’m quite sure that most of those estates don’t have bank or insurance bonds so it will come back on the local authority. Without national funding, it will cripple our ratepayer going forward,” he said.

His proposal was seconded by Cllr Valerie Byrne, (Ind) who said that most of the remaining unfinished estates were in the northern part of the county. She said some of the unfinished estates went back a long time to 2007 and 2008.

Cllr Sean Moylan (FF) referenced a number of unfinished housing estates in North Roscommon, an area which he said bore the brunt of the problem.

He went on to say that the Government needed to be called to account to get the remaining estates across the line.

“We need to put pressure on the Government to get the money in, to get these estates tidied because housing in Ireland is too scarce in places like Frenchpark, Boyle and Ballaghaderreen to leave these estates half empty or half occupied,” he said.

Pointing out that 58 out of the 75 remaining unfinished estates were in the Boyle Municipal District, Cllr Liam Callaghan (FG) welcomed the proposal for Government funding.

For residents living in these estates, he said there were always issues regarding cleans up, cutting grass, putting manhole covers back into place etc., and all these issues needed attention. He said people gave top prices for these houses at the height of the boom.

Cllr Michéal Frain (Ind) said that if the north of the county was a blackspot for unfinished estates, then Ballaghaderreen was the blackspot within the north of the county.

Because of the Section 23 tax relief, he said a lot of landlords and absentee landlords came on board and bought property in Ballaghaderreen, “claimed their tax relief and moved on”.

“We’ve been dealing with the issues, the anti-social behaviour, the litter and all that goes with it,” he said.

Cllr Frain complimented the council for taking over 13 houses in the Shannon Valley housing estate but also encouraged the council to look at tackling related issues such as antisocial behaviour and illegal dumping.

“I think the landlords in some cases unfortunately are getting off scot free…and we have to follow those people and make an example of them and up the number of notices being put on doors if they are not going to look after them,” he said.

Thanking the Director of Finance for the allocation, Cllr John Keogh (FF) said the reality was that a lot of estates had been taken in charge over the years.

He said the council had done great work in that respect, but there were still estates where the work had been carried out but still hadn’t been taken in charge.

Cllr Keogh pointed out that these estates were in the Athlone Municipal District as well as in the Boyle and Roscommon Municipal Districts.

Cllr Laurence Fallon (Ind) also supported the proposal for Government funding and said that the longer this issue went on, the worst these states would get and deteriorate more and more.

Independent Ireland councillor Nigel Dineen spoke about the number of unfinished housing estates around the county, which had no lighting and no tarmacadan on the roads.

Independent councillor Tony Ward said unfinished housing estates may not be a major issue in South Roscommon, but it was still an issue.

He said he would also like to see more funding for footpaths maintenance and went on to point out that if estates were taken in charge, a committee could then be formed to maintain the estate.

Cathaoirleach Paschal Fitzmaurice thanked the council’s director of finance for the financial statement and approval of expenditure.

He said it was very clear in the discussion that there was one issue that had come to the fore and he welcomed the allocation for unfinished estates.

“I hope we can learn lessons from that. I think Roscommon County Council has played a big role in making sure a lot of those estates have been taken in charge. That is welcome. I want to thank the council team responsible for taking them in charge because it was a challenge and they’ve done great work,” he said.

Cllr Fitzmaurice did say that there were a small number of those estates which “got planning way back” without footpaths going into the local town or village, “which I think was wrong”.

He said the other issue “which is coming back to haunt us” was that when planning permission was given to estates, the boundary walls put in place were actually wooden fences. “And then a few years later, these fences have fallen down and nobody knows who is in charge and it leaves them in a terrible state,” he said.

At the conclusion of the debate, Cllr Crosby also also proposed that some of that council allocation for unfinished estates – suggesting it be €66,000 out of the €266,000 - could be put aside for critical emergency works. He pointed to areas such as public lighting and sewerage works. The proposal was seconded by Cllr Valerie Byrne.

In response to Cllr Crosby’s proposal, Mr Sean Mullarkey said that the council couldn’t adjust the 2025 budget, but it could be considered for next year’s budget.

Councillors were informed that out of 70 or so estates, there were 60 that were “doable and ten problem ones”.

He explained that the €266,000 allocation would be used to address a shortfall in funding needed, “€10-15,000 where it gets the estate across the line but there are a few estates that are going to need bigger money”.

Council CEO Shane Tiernan said that in this quarter alone, the council was active in 12 estates across the county, with nine contractors appointed in various estates.

He explained that the council couldn’t take over lighting and roads in these estates until Uisce Eireann agreed to take over the water services and the wastewater facilities.