Laois residents unable to open their doors for fear of rats

IT will cost Laois Co Council between €30,000 and €40,000 to remove illegally dumped rubbish and trees from an alleyway between two housing estates in Portlaoise.

Residents living in the Carmody Way that backs onto Clonrooske Abbey have been unable to open the backdoors of their houses because of an infestation of rats from the illegally dumped rubbish. During the hot weather, parents prevented their children from playing in their back gardens and are terrified that rats will come into their homes.

Councillors at the June meeting of Portlaoise municipal district were told that the council has taken matters in hand and obtained two quotes to clear up the rubbish and ‘it is hoped’ that the clean-up will commence in the coming weeks.

The issues of the illegal dumping and the matter of a boundary/alleyway between the Fairgreen estate and Clonrooske Abbey were raised by cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley, who called for them to be addressed.

She said: “People who are dumping the rubbish are causing the problems of the rat infestation and it’s not fair on the people who don’t dump rubbish. Residents living in houses 49 up to 62 in the Carmody Way housing estate have raised serious concerns about illegal dumping of rubbish and a rat infestation problem in their area.

“When Carmody Way was built long before Clonrooske Abbey, a gap ended up between the two boundaries, which the locals are calling ‘no-man’s land.’ There’s an alleyway at the back of the houses from 49 up to 62. It’s very overgrown with shrubbery and a bit of illegal dumping going on, which is causing a problem in the area. The residents in those houses had contacted the council to see if they could extend their back gardens down to the boundary, which I think in the future the planning department needs to look at, that we’re not left with these type of gaps between housing estates.” She said that the council looked for prices from two contractors, “one came back with a price of €40,000, just to clean up the area. The other came back with €30,000 and there’s also €8,000 needed to remove trees in the area and that’s just the boundary area. That’s not moving the boundary.” Cllr Dwane Stanley said that council officials have informed her that they are very willing to achieve the goal of moving the residents’ boundary back to Clonrooske Abbey and are looking to source alternative funding to do it.

“The first step on the ladder,” said cllr Dwane Stanley, “is to clean up the area. At a later stage, look to move the house boundaries back, but alternative funding would be needed to do that.” Cllr Marie Tuohy said: “Just think of it. Literally trying to prevent rats from getting into your home and the fear of letting children out to play in the back. I think it would be logical to move the boundaries back.” Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald said: “People living there in the hot weather couldn’t even open their back doors or let their children out to play. They were terrified of rats getting into their houses. It’s not fair and a lot of people paying big mortgages. Is there any chance we can put a CCTV camera down there for a while?’’ Cllr Barry Walsh agreed that CCTV cameras could be erected in the area where the illegal dumping is taking place.