Legal proceedings have been initiated against the owners of a property on the Ballymoneen Road in Knocknacarra by the Galway City Council.
The proceedings follow a failure to comply with directions given by the local authority to tidy up a derelict site which has attracted anti-social behaviour in the area.
The action has led Fianna Fáil city councillor Peter Keane to call on all property owners who have been served with Derelict Site Notices in Galway to comply in order to avoid being taken to court.
Cllr Keane had received “a multitude of representations” from local residents regarding allegations of anti-social behaviour at a derelict property on the Ballymoneen Road, following which he requested the council to investigate the matter.
“I accept the difficulty being faced by property owners in redeveloping or indeed selling their properties in such depressed market conditions,” Cllr Keane told the Galway Advertiser, “but property owners have a duty to maintain properties so they do not pose a hazard or constitute a danger to the community.”
The matter was also raised at this week’s Joint Policing Committee Meeting where members urged the gardaí to step up patrols in the area. Cllr Keane pointed to the difficulty gardaí are having in policing the area due to diminished resources and a lack of community facilities.
“It is incumbent upon us to provide real solutions to these problems to obviate the necessity for court imposed orders and fines,” he said, “the imposition of which will only add to people’s pain, and this is obviously a last resort.”
