Insufficient 'bond money' to take Leitrim estate in charge, Ballinamore meeting hears

There is a way to go before the taking in charge of unfinished estates in Leitrim, it was revealed at a meeting in Ballinamore.

Cllr Ita Reynolds-Flynn asked Leitrim County Council when Dun na Bó estate will be taken in charge as weather changes may
impact flooding in the estate. 

She was told the council commissioned a company to prepare a Site Resolution Plan and Bill of Quantities for 13 estates in 2024 including Dún na Bó and the next step will be the preparation of tender documents for two bundles of estates, seven in north Leitrim and six in south Leitrim. 
The response continued that while there is bond money available for Dun na Bó, the surveys that have been undertaken indicate that it will not be sufficient to fund all the works that are required. 

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The response concluded that the council needs to bundle a number of estates into individual contracts to ensure the contract is sufficient in size to attract tenders from contractors to do the works.

Cllr Reynolds-Flynn said: "I thought it would be a bit earlier than what this response suggests. There are currently sandbags at the estate. I know it's great that they have the street lighting but we were fighting for that for a long time."

Cllr Gary Prior seconded the motion with Cllr Brendan Barry noting that "it's similar with An Gairdín and all the other unfinished estates. There is significant expense in taking it in charge and the government no longer has a fund for unfinished estates. That's the root cause; the council can't take on the estate because the works need to be done straight away to make them safe and if they don't have the funding available, they are caught and can't do it so the government needs to set up a fund."

David Minton, director of services, noted that the Ballinamore MD had a workshop with Uisce Eireann. "We have set up a cross-agency team with Uisce Eireann, that is looking at transferring estates over to Uisce Eireann."