This article is from page 37 of the 2008-06-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 37 JPG
RESIDENTS of Island View estate in Kilrush are this week rejoicing with the council members’ decision to complete works on their trouble- some gardens.
The back gardens in the housing es- tate have flooded every year prevent- ing children from playing in them and adults enjoying them.
After years of complaining to the local authority and making political representations, chairperson of the local residents association Christine Murphy brought the issue directly to the Kilrush town councillors.
During a presentation to this month’s meeting of the council Ms Murphy said, “This is not the first
time we brought this problem to the council.”
She said that when she and her fam- ily became residents of Island View in February 2005 they did not realise the garden was going to be a problem until the following winter.
She said that the garden, like most of her neighbours’, flooded and was not fit for human use.
Ms Murphy explained that the resi- dents were told on three separate oc- casions to collect the names and ad- dresses of the householder that had this problem. When they did nothing was done, she said.
“I don’t know if it is the council making donkeys out of us but there are no donkeys in Island View,” she nee
She said that some people became so frustrated at the delay in an ad- equate response to their plight from the council, that they fixed the gar- den themselves at a cost of more than €2,000.
“It 1s a council problem. They are beautiful houses but the gardens are a joke,” she said.
“In the open plan garden in the front we are not allowed by the coun- cil to put up anything to protect our children at the front. The only place we have to put our children is in the water logged back garden.”
Senior engineer Derek Troy ex- plained that there was no soakage at the back of the houses.
There is also a slant towards some houses, he explained.
He said he would prepare a report on the issue for the next meeting of the council.
Cllr Stephen O’Gorman (FF) asked the council for their support in get- ting the issue resolved.
Cllr Marian McMahon Jones (FG) said that the money should be pro- vided for the work.
She said the local authority had al- ready spent money on the new civic offices and were expected to find more, so there should be no problem providing the relatively smaller fund for the work in Island View.