‘It’s high time’ something is done with the Esso site
By Aideen O'Flaherty
THE VACANT former Esso site in Tallaght Village gives a “bad impression” to people visiting the area, according to a councillor who is calling on South Dublin County Council to continue to take action in relation to the site.
The council served an enforcement notice to the owner of the site last August, instructing them to clean up the overgrown site within six weeks, however it appears that no work has been carried out on the site.
The former Esso site in Tallaght Village
The enforcement notice stated that the owner had to take action, including cutting the grass and removing all of the shrubbery on the site, in order to “prevent the land from remaining a derelict site”.
Independent councillor Mick Duff raised the issue at last week’s monthly meeting of the Tallaght Area Committee, asking if the former Esso Site would be listed on the Council’s Derelict Site Register and to detail what action, if any, the owners made in response to the last Enforcement Notice issued by SDCC.
The issue with the site has been ongoing for several years, with Fianna Fáil councillor Charlie O’Connor having also pursued the issue with the council.
Cllr O’Connor told The Echo: “It’s high time that something is done about that site – it’s a prime site in the middle of our historical village, and it creates a bad impression.
“Something has to be done about it. We need to make sure that SDCC continues to put pressure on the owner of the site to stop it being derelict.”
In response to Cllr Duff’s motion at the Tallaght Area Committee, the council stated that the site “has been under observation for a considerable period of time and in recent years the site has been carefully monitored and a number of inspections have taken place and correspondence issued.
“There has been particular difficulty in ascertaining title details of this particular site.
“It is known to have been acquired by Tougher’s Oil Distributors Limited and an application made to Land Registry to register the site.
“However, it is documented that this site is not registered in Land Registry. It is also documented that various receivers were appointed for certain assets of Tougher’s Oil Distributors and communications passed between parties in this regard.
“However more recently it has been determined that this site is not within the remit of any of the appointed receivers and accordingly a Section 11 notice (requesting works to be undertaken on the site within a prescribed timeframe) was recently issued to Tougher’s Oil Distributors and also on the Directors of the company.”
The Echo contacted Tougher Oil for comment, but they did not respond in time for print.
