Like finding a needle in a haystack
Recently a volunteer engaged in responding to requests for help from residents in Dundalk made the promise, out of sheer frustration, that if he ever won the Lotto he would have no hesitation in donating some of his winnings towards the cost of properly numbering houses and estates in town.
That frustration is born out of years circling estates, often at night, in the hopeless quest for a house.
On many occasions that search has had to be abandoned.
The problem is that not only are numbers missing from individual houses, but in most cases there are no signs on the entrances to estates, indicating the direction one should take to find a specific house.
There are of course examples where estates are properly signposted, such as the Belfry estate off St. Alphonsus Road where an excellent job was done by the developers, and another where the signs are excellent is Cooley Park, off Hyde Park, which is a local authority estate.
Unfortunately these two estates are exceptions, and indeed some local authority estates, which should conform with regulations in this regard, are the worse cases.
There are some estates, such as Greenacres and Bay Estate both off the Avenue Road, and which contain a number of individual estates such as Laurel Grove, or Cypress Gardens, it is impossible to find the right estate, never mind an individual house.
Of course many rely on the maps on their phones to find their way to an estate, or a house, but spare a thought for those not too savvy with modern technology and insist the estates are properly identified and individual houses numbered.