Residents are unhappy at length of time to resolve drainage issue

“It’s horrendous the amount of things they have had to put up with over the years.”

Drainage issues in a Saggart estate are expected to be resolved at the end of January as a new drainage system nears completion, but residents remain skeptical.

Residents of the Fairgreen in Saggart have repeatedly reported an unacceptable situation in their back gardens for the last few years.

Digging was carried out in the green area behind their homes to build a raised football pitch, but existing land drainage was damaged in the process.

The damage led to water flooding into the residents’ gardens and in mounds of muck facing their homes.

Work started on a ‘deep drain’ in November to protect houses in the estate from any repeats of the situation in the future, and the developer is expected to meet their deadline for completing this work at the end of January.

Councillor Shirley O’Hara explained that the residents are “very unhappy” at the length of time it took to resolve the issue.

Cllr O’Hara said: “The residents are very unhappy that the drainage issues continued for such a prolonged period of time, and it’s still impacting…

“…There is confirmation by the end of January that the deadline will be met, but the residents want to know, although the deadline will be met, will the issue be resolved?”

SDCC published the SuDS guide in 2022, which lays out the standard of drainage to which developers must apply to.

South Dublin County Council’s Natural Water department have been liaising with the developer on the private lands beside Fairgreen, Saggart.

The developer committed to installing a drainage pipeline on the field side of the Fairgreen houses and is connecting all existing land drains into the new drainage system to prevent surface water from passing property boundaries.

Councillor Francis Timmons noted that the situation the residents of the estate had to go through was stressful and some of the communication with the developer was unsavoury.

Cllr Timmons said: “I’ve seen some pictures of people’s back gardens, I’ve seen some horrible stuff that they’ve been living with, and some of the communication with the developer hasn’t been very nice towards residents.

“So, you’ll allow that they feel very sceptical that anything is going to really change because they’ve been living with it for a number of years now…

“It’s horrendous the amount of things they have had to put up with over the years. So, look, if it happens and it’s resolved, absolutely it would be great.

“It’s a small enough area first of all, and for a small area they’ve really had hell over the last few years.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.