Homeowners in a Leitrim housing estate plagued by recurring sewage failures and subsiding roads, driveways and pavements are seeking assurances that the long-standing problems will be resolved, without delay.
Residents of An Gairdín, a 16-unit estate in Keshcarrigan village near the Shannon-Erne Waterway, say the defects have caused health, safety and environmental concerns.
"In the summer and spring months, my children cannot play outside for the sheer stench of the sewage. In the winter months, the sewage pipes get backed up," Andrew Travers said.
James Ruddy, the longest-serving resident in the estate, built in 2004, said they "don't have problems with the houses as every house was pile driven".
"Unfortunately, the rest of the estate wasn't brought up to that standard...many households have carried out their own remedial works, but that hasn’t fixed the core problem - the collapse of the sewerage system throughout the estate," he said.
"We are getting a private company provided by the council to empty the sewage on a weekly/fortnightly basis. Obviously, that’s not the solution.
"We have no confirmation that the water and the sewage are not mixing underneath the ground. As a consequence, a lot of households are not drinking the water out of fear."
Leitrim County Council said it remains committed to resolving the situation with the wastewater infrastructure in An Gairdín estate in Keshcarrigan.
'Remediation is not straightforward' - report
A council report produced about 18 months ago said the roads and services are sinking under their own weight and warned, without addressing sub-surface conditions, the problems would continue to reoccur.
"While the problems are identifiable, remediation is not straightforward," the report said.
The wider infrastructure issues have been linked to construction methods not fully suited to the underlying ground conditions.
Full remediation has been estimated at €1.5 million, far exceeding the €56,256 bond attached to the estate. The developer is no longer active.
Leitrim County Council wrote to Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage James Browne last year seeking funding support to address the issue.
Minister Browne later told the Dáil that decisions on funding and the taking in charge of estates rest with elected local authority members.
A spokesperson for the department echoed those sentiments. They added: "There is no longer a dedicated funding scheme for such housing estates."
In a statement, a spokesperson for Leitrim County Council said further site investigations are under way and that it is working with Uisce Éireann to put in place a programme of works.
The spokesperson said this "will both address the current situation and provide a longer term and sustainable solution to the wastewater infrastructure in the estate".
The council is in on-going communication with the residents about the situation.
Speaking on behalf of residents, Maria Hoey said while engagement with the council and Uisce Éireann was welcome, the issue must be fully resolved.
"We’ve been waiting 20 years for these defects to be remedied. We’re told it will cost €1.5 million and that the money isn’t there.
"What we want now are firm assurances that all of the issues will be fixed - fully and without further delay."
Some residents said they were given to understand when purchasing their homes that, although the estate was not yet taken in charge, it would be in due course.
Pamela Ruddy said the situation has left residents feeling trapped.
"I look at the Minister for Housing…he can do all the building of estates that he wants to help with the housing [crisis], I get that.
"If I want to sell my house, we consciously couldn’t do that because we would leave someone else with this problem. Are they just going to let this estate keep sinking?" she asked.
'A massive extra stress'
Andrew Travers said the problems were not immediately visible when his family moved five years ago.
"We were taken in by the splendour of this estate, and only soon afterwards, we realised the problems that weren’t immediately visible, especially with sewage."
Andrew described the situation "a massive extra stress" while a family member dealt with health issues.
Maria Hoey and Garrett O’Boyle who moved from Dublin to Keshcarrigan three-and-a-half years ago, said they bought in good faith.
"We came down fell in love with this estate, beautiful houses, lovely neighbours and a beautiful community.
"We bought in all good faith. The first day we came to look at the house, we saw what affectionately or non-affectionately are known as the humps.
"I am talking huge humps on the road. We have cones on them because they have taken the exhaust from cars.
"We asked, what’s that? We were told; it’s just an issue with the manhole. It will be fixed. The council will be taking it in charge; all will be well. We bought our house.
"Within a couple of months, €7,000 that we really needed for other projects in the house had to be spent on digging up our driveway, taking up all the kinked pipes and relaying it the way it should have been done.
"We became aware as we got to know people that this was an ongoing issue. It was a massive shock," she said.
Garrett O’Boyle said before they built up the garden with topsoil that they could see the structure on which the house was built.
"The houses are structurally perfect, but everything around them is subsiding. Essentially, the sewer lines are broken. They come around every week and pump it out.
"It’s a bit worrying in terms of human health, ecological and tourism considerations".
Residents acknowledge that public attention may affect property values, but say silence is no longer an option.
'Our houses are perfectly safe, but our common areas are sinking'
Maria Hoey said they realise that "drawing attention to this publicly will affect the value of the houses".
"Our houses are perfectly safe, but our common areas are sinking, and we have massive sewerage and environmental issues."
Pamela Ruddy said they are not seeking "a Rolls-Royce" solution.
"Keshcarrigan is a beautiful village. It has a lot of tourism. I am afraid that there’s leakage of sewage going into the Shannon-Erne [waterway]. For tourism, that isn’t good.
"One of the [proposed] solutions was a Rolls-Royce solution. We’re happy with any solution that will fix this problem."
