Council owned property not painted for 20 years in Turnpike – residents claim

Council owned property in Turnpike has not been painted for two decades, residents have claimed.

A survey of St Clare’s Close by housing staff within the Ennis Municipal District was sought by Cllr Mary Howard (FG) as she said the building was in need of some tender love and care.

Chutes are clogged with vegetation while the building housing apartments four to seven “has not been painted in twenty years,” Howard stated. Doors and windows will also need to be replaced, the outgoing Mayor of Clare believed.

Seven of the nine properties in St Clare’s Close are owned by the local authority. “Each of these was surveyed during 2018 as part of our planned maintenance stock condition survey. At the time all the windows and doors were given a five year lifespan and no maintenance requests were received through our tenant contact number,” senior executive engineer Tony Neville responded.

Neville confirmed that an up-to-date inspection will be arranged “shortly and actioned accordingly”. “The houses have been painted over the past three years” and were funded by the void property refurbishment. Quotations to clean and paint the apartment blocks have been sought, works will then proceed subject to funding through the Estate Management.

Speaking at the June meeting of the Ennis MD, Cllr Howard commented that the residents “beg to differ” with aspects of the reply. She flagged that apartments 4, 5, 6 and 7 were not painted in the last year, “some residents say it has been eighteen years”.

Although he seconded the proposal, Cllr Paul Murphy (FG) admitted to being unsure if he was entirely in support it. “We have the apartment units opened in Clarecastle in 2008, I wasn’t long in Council at the time and I’ve been looking for them to be painted for a long time. If you start where do you stop. It comes back to finance, it has to be across the board”.

Support was voiced by Cllr Pat Daly (FF), “it is a beautiful area at the top of the Turnpike, it does require a clean up”.