Tenants at new Wexford housing estate reporting issues with sewerage, heating, plastering, and ‘basic workmanship’

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Questions continue to be asked about who in Wexford County Council (WCC) signed off on a housing estate which, by the latest measure, has issues with sewerage, plastering, heating, and basic workmanship.

Ard na Bhile in New Ross was purchased by the council from a developer before its 46 units were allocated to social housing applicants earlier this year. However, since moving in to the newly-built homes, tenants have reported a number of problems, with issues ranging from laths sticking out through plastering to toilets overflowing with sewerage.

On foot of this, a council engineer compiled a report on the estate which was brought to councillors at the October meeting of the New Ross Municipal District (NRMD). The findings of said report were not welcomed by Councillor Michael Sheehan.

“The report doesn’t tally with the complaints I have received from the residents,” he said. “It raises two cases, including the balconies, I can tell you there’s more than two cases in that estate. The main issues are the heating, the sewerage, and the general calibre of the workmanship at an estate we acquired for a massive amount of money.

"We’re going to have to go back in there, particularly with the sewerage system, and carry out a major amount of work.”

The methods used to allocate the houses were also queried by the independent councillor.

“Some of the people there came in via recommendations from social workers who have since vanished, leaving the residents to deal with people who require wraparound supports.”

Cathaoirleach of the district, Cllr John Dwyer, has frequently reported problems with the storage facilities for waste bins at the estate, but to no avail.

“I don’t know if the contractor ran out of money, but he had lovely concrete plinths to put wheelie bins on and then, when it came to one part of the estate, he decided to shove them all up against a building,” he said. “I have raised this on numerous occasions and for it to be dismissed with one line by the person who did this report is scandalous.”

With lots of problems and no one willing to shoulder the blame, thoughts turned to who in the council deemed Ard na Bhile fit for purpose.

“Who in the council signed off on this?” asked Cllr Sheehan. “When they have problems, the tenants ring the council who ring the developer who send out a fella to have a look at the issues and the first thing he said was ‘this is not my area of expertise, I’m just a gang master’.

"There are problems with air-to-water systems, the heating systems are so loud they keep the neighbours awake at night. Other people have complained about stuff falling off the balconies because they’re perforated, so anything put out there goes right through them and onto the tenant below.

“There’s widescale issues which have been overlooked, you can see the laths through the plaster on the walls; in five years time all of those houses will require serious remedial works.”

Noting that a bond was in place with the developer, Cllr Barden said the issues at the estate would have to be addressed and, if necessary, the builder would have to return to complete the works to a higher standard.

In terms of the snagging, or the process of inspecting the houses to identify defects before purchase, housing officer with WCC Martina Donohue said it would have been done by a member of the council’s technical team before the sale was closed.

“The person doing the snagging goes through it with the developer,” she said. “But the engineer in this report is saying that some of these issues couldn’t be identified at the snagging stage.”

On allocations and Cllr Sheehan’s suggestion that some of the houses were assigned to people who require additional supports, Ms Donohue said she herself was responsible for ensuring council homes were allocated to suitable tenants.

“I would be satisfied that those allocations came through (the proper channels),” she said. “I don’t know who you have concerns about but I would stand over the allocations, we can put tenant supports in place if it’s required.”

With Cllr John Fleming recounting how a recent meeting at his day job as an estate agent had revealed that up to 60 per cent of heat pumps are installed incorrectly in new builds, it was left to director of services Eamonn Hore to offer some solace to those living in Ard na Bhile.

“I would suggest we collect every single complaint and go back in there, it can be resolved with a little bit of effort.”