The lack of progress of any real note in the rejuvenation of St Patrick’s Estate in Ballina since the housing group took over control of the estate two years ago provoked widespread condemnation at the monthly meeting of Ballina Town Council on Wednesday night. The housing association gave the council a presentation on the work that was to be carried out in the rejuvenation of the estate over the coming months but before the presentation even began, the anger of the council members was demonstrated.
Fine Gael Cllr Mark Winters asked to speak before the presentation, as he wasn’t going to be present for it as a mark of protest. Cllr Winters said: “I won’t be here for the presentation as a mark of protest, as far as I know this is our seventh presentation which have shown us a number of draft plans. I don’t know when these drafts will end. And the last draft plan had planning permission applied for lands that weren’t owned by the group and we seem to have never-ending changing faces in Cluid.”
Nick Sheward, housing development officer from Cluid, outlined the plans that the association had for the estate and told the members that they had planning applied for and received, the development phasing part of the plan was now largely in place and pre-tender submissions had been made to the Department of Environment for which they are awaiting approval. A timetable has been approved and they hope to have the project started by April 2009 and completed by August 2010.
After the presentation, the councillors all expressed their dissatisfaction with how things have progressed so far since Cluid took control of the estate two years ago.
Sinn Féin Cllr Peter Clarke said: “New faces but the same old problems. Two years ago I asked for dialogue between Cluid and the residents and for a planned maintenance scheme to be put in place. The tenants don’t know when they will be moving, I know of one family who were told they would be moving on October 12, they had their bags packed and were ready to go and nothing happened.
“Another family were told they were moving but there was no place to go in the area and they were told they were going to go to Foxford. I labelled St Patrick’s Estate as third world before, because of the conditions that the people were living in. There are houses boarded up there that have food and furniture in them, it’s no wonder there is a rat problem. Another problem is the illegal dumping which is rife throughout the estate, one of your officers was given the names of people who were doing it and nothing was done about it.
“In my opinion you are in a hole and you just keep digging. Another incident I would like to bring up is of a woman who had a broken sink in her house and she was told that they would get a sink from a boarded up house and replace it with that. Do you know how demeaning that is to a person?”
Cllr Padraig Moore told the meeting: “In June 2006 I thought that the 18 months for the project that was laid out was too long and now we’re 16 months down the line and nothing has been done. If you look at the issue of the caretaker, he is there two and half days a week and either you gave him too much work to do in that time or he’s not doing his work. People are complaining regularly that they are making calls that aren’t being returned. I have so much sympathy for the good people who live there but who are being tarred with a bad brush.”
Independent Cllr Mary Kelly told the meeting: “I believe that the lack of dialogue between the residents and Cluid is one of the main reasons that we have come to where we are today. The recent press attention is the most damning representation of Cluid and the way people are living there. I have seen your work before in Sligo and have seen the good work that has been done, we thought that’s what was going to happen here when you came in. You have got to get the trust of the people back as far as I’m concerned. The problem with illegal dumping has to be sorted, I do believe that the majority of the dumping is coming from outside of the estate and that has to be fixed.”
Fianna Fáil Cllr Johnny O’Malley added: “In 2003 the estate was in a terrible condition. On the basis that we couldn’t get it fixed up quick enough it was given over to Cluid. It did take time for it to be handed over to Cluid, but ye have had it long enough. Two years ago Batt O’Keefe walked the estate and there was a promise of funding to be in place. But now we are in different economic times and this is uncharted water. I was there last week and there was a goat and horse tied up in the public area and some of the gardens which are supposed to be kept cut were like meadows.”
Councillors hit out at not being invited to meeting
A number of members of the council hit out at the residents’ association in the estate for not being invited to a recent meeting. Cllr Clarke was the only councillor invited and this incensed members who said they were elected by the people of Ballina to represent the people of Ballina.
