Donegal County Council are to examine ‘with urgency’ a Letterkenny housing estate that is ‘dangerous’ to the public.
At this month’s meeting of the Letterkenny Municipal District, Sinn Féin Councillor Gerry McMonagle warned that the retaining walls at Carraig Craoibh are posing a danger.
Councillor McMonagle said that he was ‘fed up’ bringing the matter to the Council’s attention and noted that it had been the very first motion that he’d brought up at a Letterkenny MD meeting.
“We put our housing applicants into Carraig Craobh and there are extensive areas there that are dangerous,” Councillor McMonagle said.
“We were informed before that there had been negotiations between the contract and the Town Council. There was agreement on these things and the estate was to be taken over by the Council.
“The works were refused before on the basis that it hadn’t been taken over. But now one of the walls has collapsed and others are bulging.
“I have raised this before privately and publicly to get the health and safety people of this Counil to check the retaining walls immediately and to check the footpaths, roads and the green areas.
“There is an extensive green area that is a danger. I’m fed up bringing it up and no-one is listening.
“The Council have said, in their answer, that the fence of the bounder of the open space is in need of repair – it is non-existent and it is rotten. It is broken beyond repair and there needs to be a crash barrier there.
“There is a manhole there with a hole around it too. We are getting nowhere with this.
“That response is not good enough when you see what has happened. I would be fearful about what could happen.”
Councillor Liam Blaney said that it was a ‘serious concern if we are putting families into that estate.’
Council Director of Services Liam Ward said there had been a ‘difficulty in terms of whether the estate has been taken over.’
He said: “In effect, it is a private estate. We need to get to the bottom of whether it has been taken over or not, but we will examine it with urgency”.