‘Nobody should have to live like this’ — Residents in Wexford housing estate frustrated by rubbish accumulating for years

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Residents in a Wexford town estate are pleading with the local council to take action against vast amounts of rubbish which have been accumulating on a public cul-de-sac for years.

Although Wexford County Council (WCC) did visit McCLure Meadows on June 26 to carry out a clean-up operation which saw nine lorry loads of material removed, the rubbish and debris has begun piling again in the intervening weeks.

One resident in the estate, who did not wish to be named, said those living alongside were dealing with rats in their premises as a result of the filth and rubbish on the street. And they could not understand how it was being allowed to happen.

“I’m so annoyed about this, I don’t have one point on my licence, I’ve never been a week late with my mortgage, I’ve done everything by the law, never done a thing wrong in my life, so I can’t understand how this is allowed to continue,” they said.

“People will think ‘oh it’s only a bit of rubbish’, but I paid good money for my house and the area is being desecrated.

According to one source, a property in the estate was sold for €35,000 less than its asking price due to the ongoing issues with rubbish and debris in the cul-de-sac, and at the July meeting of the Wexford Borough, Councillor Biddy Walsh asked why this situation was being allowed to continue.

“There are good people in Wexford town living their lives in a proper way, but because of the rules used by the council these residents just have to put up with it,” she said. “The rubbish was removed, in a sting operation, but now it has to be done again because the person in question is just continuing to do what they were doing before.”

Cllr Catherine Biddy Walsh. © Jim Campbell

In May of this year, Cllr Tom Forde raised the issue of vehicles being left in the Cromwellsfort Grove estate with “car parts scattered around” for months on end. Alleging that someone was “operating a business out in the open”, Cllr Forde asked the council to remove the vehicles, a task which was subsequently completed by council staff.

However, he revealed that the vehicles had now reappeared.

“It seems like we’re sending a message out to the community that it’s okay to park cars in estates (and work on them), I know we’re bound in some ways by legislation but if you have a set of cars being worked on, they’re removed, and then you have another set of cars replacing them, then there has to be action taken, enforcement has to be carried out by the council,” he said.

Defending the council’s stance, environmental engineer Hugh Maguire said his team were aware of the cases in McCLure Meadows and Cromwellsfort Grove and were working to resolve them both.

“We do issue fines and notices, that’s a daily occurrence,” he said. “We are going to take action and we have already taken action there (at McCLure Meadows). But we can’t live in the house with them and crack the whip to turn them into good people overnight, there are people living in houses with all sorts of difficulties, people with criminal records, and people who struggle to live a normal life.

“We try and correct these problems but it can’t always be done instantly. We are the civil local authority, we don’t have stormtroopers, we don’t have weapons, or muscled men, to go up and wrestle with people.

“We are in Wexford Court almost every day, we have a bundle of cases there, some of those cases involve people you have complained about.”

Cllr Walsh asked whether WCC had contacted the owner of the property, who is renting it out, to notify them of the issues.

“The situation I’m talking about has been going on for years, I understand the environmental department has done great work in sending all those lorries up there, all those staff, clearing the place, but the people living beside that house; their mental state is getting worse by the day, nobody should have to live in circumstances like that. Someone needs to contact the owner of that house.”

“Do you not think we’ve done that, councillor?” asked Mr Maguire.

“Have you? Has someone contacted the owner?” asked Cllr Walsh.

At this point, rather than continue to discuss the issue in an open meeting, the councillors and staff suggested holding a private meeting in September - with no members of the media in attendance - to try and resolve the problems at McCLure Meadows and Cromwellsfort Grove.