Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When the applicants applied for the taking in charge, there must have been a response as to whether X,Y and Z had been done in regard to snagging on the site, whether the footpaths were okay, whether the camera had gone down the sewer and whether the water had been checked. Surely there was a signing off on that.

I am asking that because I am trying to support the council. Mr. Coskeran and those families stuck to their side of the bargain and the council stuck to its side of the bargain, but the people in the middle have messed this up absolutely. I am looking for that information because we can then go to the Department that is responsible and say there are agreements, contracts and understandings, and there is a bit of empathy and respect on both sides of the wall, so surely it can come to a quick resolution. The witnesses have heard of statutory instruments and they know that cigarette prices and alcohol prices can be put up overnight. It is very frustrating for us and it has to be frustrating for the council, but it must be really frustrating for the five families who are living in this estate. This has gone on way too long. We need to have that information in order to fight on everybody's behalf. That is why I am asking. Somebody signed off on the original planning and the stipulations with Mr. Coskeran. We need that document or those documents. We also want to look for the completed snag list so we have a full picture.

We need to know that everything was done right but the council has been prevented from taking over because of a technical issue ten or 12 years later, when the Government decided to take water services away from county councils, set up a new entity and change all the rules. I am sure that if water was still with the county councils, we would not be looking at these figures because the people who were there were well capable of making these connections. That is what is making me very frustrated. I feel that if we can get that information in black and white on paper, we can work on behalf of both the families in that estate and Tipperary County Council.