Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Just over a week ago I visited the Gleann Riada estate to hear at first hand the concerns of residents. Gleann Riada estate is an isolated estate that is located approximately one mile outside Longford town and does not have public transport links. I was taken aback by the litany of problems encountered by residents. There are slightly more than 80 dwellings housing approximately 300 men, women and children. Most residents have shared ownership and council mortgages, with nine of them in receipt of rent supplement.

As the Minister of State is aware, Gleann Riada is an unfinished estate on which a full block of apartments was pulled down earlier this year. The homes were built on a flood plain and the developer availed of section 23 tax exemptions. Two explosions in houses in the past seven months are suspected to be the result of leaking sewer gases caused by the insufficient and substandard sewerage network on the estate.

There is a terrible smell of sewage and other noxious gases, which has resulted in a large number of visits to local GPs for residents, who have missed work or school as a consequence. Residents throughout the estate report high rates of illness, and they are clear about who they believe is responsible. Local GPs are backing up these claims and are reporting higher rates of illness in Gleann Riada compared to other estates. There is visible subsidence under paths, shores and boundaries around the dwellings. One row of buildings which I am told should not have been occupied was occupied but it had no suitable fire escape. All it had was a door which led to a one-storey drop; the door was in place but there was no visible way out.

I visited a couple of the houses where gas monitors were in place. There was a very bad smell of sewage. The HSE and the local authorities have advised people living in these houses in what it has deemed as an unsafe estate to keep their windows open. Families struggling to make ends meet in what has become a living hell are being told, as winter sets in, to keep their windows open. These families are afraid to turn on the heating or light fires, cookers or even a cigarette for fear of another explosion. The HSE has said it is unsafe, yet people are still moving into the estate on rent supplement from the HSE. The State is actually subsidising the endangerment of these people.

The families are asking to be evacuated and accommodated elsewhere until the issues are resolved for once and for all. Is the Minister aware that the HSE has said this is an unfit and unsafe estate? Is he aware the estate was built on a flood plain? Is he aware that the HSE and Longford County Council have asked residents to keep their windows, doors and vents open, not to light fires and to smoke outside? I visited some of these houses. The chimneys are not properly secured, paths are sinking, the sewerage systems are substandard, and there are no proper radon layers.

I have a number of questions for the Minister. Who signed off on this estate? Why is the HSE continuing to offer rent supplement in the estate? Is the Minister aware that a HSE primary care centre has been built in a neighbouring field in the same flood plain? That primary care centre is essential for Longford, but why was it built in that location on a flood plain? What were the criteria used to make that decision? What investigations have been carried out into the standards that applied in this regard with planners and others in Longford County Council?

Having visited this estate and spoken to the residents about all the issues that have been raised, I am of the view that it should be evacuated. I ask the Minister to give us some indicator as to what can be done here and not kick the issue to touch to the local authority or elsewhere because this is a very serious issue.

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