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Affordable housing scheme contract cancelled

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THE affordable housing scheme at the back of Cluain Airne has been thrown into disarray as Clare County Council has terminated its contract with Paddy Burke Builders for the construction of the first phase.
It’s another debacle in a project that has caused a huge amount of local controversy and anger since it was first mooted, some years ago.
While there has been no work at the site for some time, at a recent meeting of Shannon Town Council, town manager Bernadette Kinsella said that things were on course, although the deadline for the builders had been extended.
In a report to the October meeting of the Town Council, she stated, “There have been delays in the completion of this contract arising from a number of factors, including the poor weather conditions last winter, the requirement to extinguish rights of way and general issues associated with the economic downturn. The council is cognisant of the impact of these issues on contract delivery and has agreed to an extension of contract completion date. It is planned that the current contract will be completed in March 2011.”
In a statement released last Friday afternoon, Ms Kinsella said that the contract with Paddy Burke Builders Ltd was now void but that the scheme would still finish next spring.
“The contract for phase one of the council’s housing development at Glaise na Rinne, Shannon was terminated today for reason of failure by the contractor to comply with the terms and conditions of the contract. Arrangements are in hand to meet with the bondsman to get an alternative contractor to complete phase one of the scheme. Security will also be arranged on site. Elected representatives in Shannon Town and electoral area will be informed of further developments.
“The construction of the scheme has experienced some delays in the past 12 months due to the severe weather conditions of last winter, the extinguishment of rights of way and the general economic climate. However, the council anticipates that a new contractor will be on site by the end of November and that the development can be completed by late spring.”
Local resident Nicole Murphy said that she was disappointed that the council hadn’t been in closer contact with those living beside the site, while she said local people should have been listened to at the outset of the process.
Speaking on Tuesday evening, she said, “We have been told unofficially about the contract by the councillors but we haven’t been told anything by the council officials or the town manager. We’re disappointed by that but not really surprised; we haven’t been told anything about why things have been stopped for the last few months and we don’t know what the implications of this are. They said it would be finished in March but we don’t know now if that will be put back further, and if so by how long.
“It’s a pity that the council didn’t listen to us at the beginning, this has been a pure waste of time, energy and money. They’ve ruined the green area that we had. It could be gone for just 22 houses because I can’t see the latter phases going ahead; those 22 mightn’t even be built. If they’d listened to us, they could have used the service land but it is been one catastrophe after another since.”
She said that work on the site effectively finished at the time of the builder’s holidays last summer.
Shannon Town Councillor Cathy McCafferty brought a motion regarding Cluain Airne to the October meeting of the council and on Tuesday, she said she was worried about the future for Cluain Airne.
“Basically it’s going to be a ghost estate and we don’t know how long that will be the case. None of the questions I put down for the town council meeting have been answered properly. I walked up by it on Saturday and there are paths going nowhere and the road is in a bad state. I’d be worried about the way it has been left. It’s in a dangerous state. It’s an absolute disgrace and I don’t know how long it’ll be in that condition,” she commented.
At the October meeting, Councillor Michael Fleming said he didn’t expect the deadline given by the council to be met and this week he said it is looking even more unlikely now.
“The builders have gone and they’re looking at getting someone else but it won’t happen overnight and probably not in the next couple of weeks.”
According to the council, the contract with Paddy Burke Builders Ltd which commenced in August of last year is worth in excess of €3m. The scheme comprises 16 affordable houses and six step-down units.
Phone calls were made to Paddy Burke Builders seeking comment on the matter but at the time of going to press, no response had been received.

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