RESIDENTS of an apartment complex in Portarlington say they are in a living hell.
Human faeces are dumped in kitchen sinks at vacant flats and also on stairwells in the modern housing development. Needles left by drug addicts litter the ground in vacant units and public areas at Corrig Glen, which contains 60 apartments, of which about 15% are occupied.
Residents paid between €190,000 and €265,000 for their homes but they are now in a waking nightmare.
Nurse Edel Coleman bought her duplex apartment off the plans for €230,000 in 2008. For the past few years, her life has been a misery.
She says: “There are human faeces in the sink in the vacant apartment below mine and there are human faeces in the stairwell. There are squatters in many of the apartments and some are used by drug addicts. There are needles all over the ground.
You are terrified walking up the stairs to your apartment. I ring my mother every night to say that I am home, because she is so worried.”
Local councillor Aidan Mullins describes Corrig Glen, which is now in the hands of NAMA, as by far the worst estate in Laois. He says that, while there have been problems for years, the situation has recently become progressively worse.
He says: “At this stage, it is like a bomb site. Tenants paid large prices for their homes, but now it is like Aleppo in Syria.
“I visited again recently and was shocked by the apartment block beside Lidl. In practically all of the units, the front doors have been forced open, windows broken, kitchen units smashed to bits, water cylinders and piping stolen, electrical fittings broken, fireplaces removed and damaged and internal walls damaged. Only one apartment is occupied in that block and the tenants are living in the middle of utter devastation.”
Edel Coleman describes her apartment as just somewhere to put her head down at night, not a home.
The 40-year-old says: “It is brutal. There has been nothing but trouble here. They have already destroyed the big apartment block nearest Lidl and now they have started on my block. We are living in an absolute dive and it is embarrassing.”
Corrig Glen had no public lighting until last December and roads are still unfinished. According to residents, the county council cleaned all vacant apartments last October but they are now in a terrible state again.
Edel points out: “My apartment is worth zero now. I can’t sell it as long as Corrig Glen is in this condition. It could be a beautiful place but nobody cares about it now. If the building is not maintained, is my apartment going to fall down? If they knocked it down and gave me another house, I would be happy to pay the mortgage.”
Cllr Mullins says that he contacted both NAMA and the developer in an attempt to have the building secured and NAMA claimed it is the responsibility of the developer. NAMA currently has the entire 18-apartment block nearest Lidl up for sale as one unit since early last year.
The Sinn Féin councillor adds that works to be carried out in Corrig Glen, under the Special Site Resolution Fund of €120,000 granted to Laois County Council last June, have still not been finished and roads have yet to be completed.
Cllr Mullins has put down a notice of motion for the next Graiguecullen-Portarlington Municipal District Meeting on 18 March, calling on the county council to serve a notice of its intention to place the block of apartments on the derelict sites register. He says: “Hopefully, if that happens, NAMA and/or the developer will be forced to act and secure the units. What has been allowed to happen here is shameful and a total disgrace.
