James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for affording me time to discuss the important issue of the ongoing position at Gleann Riada Estate in County Longford. I ask the Minister of State with responsibility for housing to provide a detailed update on the remedial works being carried out at Gleann Riada, for which funding was allocated by her Department last November, and the progress on the practical alleviation of the problems being experienced by the residents. Indeed, these have been well documented.

The allocation of €200,000 for the remedial works at Gleann Riada last November was welcome. However, the estate was built on a flood plane, the sewerage network is inadequate and substandard, and poison gas has been escaping into family homes, which is extremely serious. Unless the Minister of State can give me facts to set my concerns at rest, the allocation of €200,000 and the €90,000 provided last August will not be enough and further funding will be needed, notwithstanding the additional funding from the developer's bond.

It could, however, be a case of throwing good money after bad. It is self-evident that if residents have moved into an estate they did not realise was built on a flood plain, they will be the victims of ongoing and perhaps unsolvable problems. Explosions in a residential estate would certainly shake the confidence of home owners and Gleann Riada experienced this horror twice last year, in March and October.

The ongoing problems in the estate are well documented and compounded by the lack of public transport and deficiencies in the estate's roads. What we now see is the result of greed fostered by section 23 tax exemptions that were availed of by the estate's developer. Unfortunately, while he gained, the residents certainly have not. With the suspicion that the explosions were caused by leaking sewer gases from a substandard sewerage network, the residents must feel the anxiety that comes form living in the vicinity of an active volcano. Connected to this are the high illness rates among residents, which are well-documented by local GPs and which are well above the norm for other estates. Longford County Council has admitted there have been health hazards and that the levels of hydrogen sulfide in three houses exceeded the WHO recommended levels for indoor air for 24 hour exposure.

Most citizens are currently living through an economic nightmare. The residents of the Gleann Riada estate, like others, have their financial and personal problems, but we can only imagine the stress of living in a housing nightmare on top of other worries. I am seeking assurances from the Minister of State that the residents of Gleann Riada will not be fobbed off with patch-up works that will not solve their problems in the long term. They must have a finished estate where they can have full confidence or they must be moved to a more viable location and safer housing.

I must question the planning process that saw permission granted for this estate from hell on a flood plain. Problems will manifest themselves in the future if not in the short term. It is sometimes hard to believe we actually have a planning process that is considered competent. I hope the Minister of State will provide facts and figures and details of the works carried out at Gleann Riada that will ensure the housing and the environment are totally safe for the residents. My personal feeling is that Gleann Riada will never totally overcome the deficiencies that have beset it.

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