Council slammed over safety issues

“It will take a kid being knocked down before action is taken,” said a resident who calls on the council to take in charge his estate after eleven years.

Bernard Doyle, of Crosforge in Saggart, said his family was one of the first to move in when the estate was built eleven years ago.

According to Bernard, residents don’t have anyone to rely on when maintenance or safety issues arise in the estate, as neither the builder nor South Dublin County Council seem to be in charge of it.

“There was a broken swing in the playground, my neighbours had to fix it themselves,” Bernard told The Echo.

“We are paying property tax, and we don’t even get to have road markings.”

Bernard’s main concern has to do with illegal parking occurring in the estate, as he witnessed a car parked on a footpath in a blind spot, putting residents’ safety at risk over the St Brigid’s weekend.

“I’ve seen it before. The car doesn’t belong to a resident, but to a resident’s family member who leaves it there when they go on holidays,” he said.

Bernard reported the breach to Rathcoole Garda Station and saw that the car had been moved on Tuesday, February 4.

“I don’t know if the owner just moved it or if actual action was taken.

“It’s a safety issue because it’s in a blind spot and leads to kids getting off the footpath and going on the road.

“The same thing happens with wheelchair users.

“Does it take a kid being knocked down before someone can take action?”

Crosforge was one of the estates mentioned by Clondalkin councillor Eoin Ó Broin (SocDem) when he proposed a motion calling on SDCC to develop a better Taking In Charge (TIC) process.

“Several estates across the county were built in the early 2000s, such as Millrace and Crosforge in Saggart or Payton in Rathcoole and haven’t been taken in charge yet,” he said.

Taking In Charge is the formal legal process through which responsibility for common areas and services in a private residential development are transferred to, or put in the charge of, the council.

For the responsibility to be transferred to the council, the development must be completed in compliance with the approved planning application.

“When people buy their houses that is the basis on which they buy them. It works smoothly in a lot of cases, but it hasn’t worked smoothly for a number of estates,” said Cllr Ó Broin.

“Footpaths, road markings, drainage, green areas . . . these are the things the developers sit on, and for their own reasons they don’t finish them off, to the loss of residents,” he added.

Rathcoole Garda Station and South Dublin County Council were contacted for comment.