Kanturk homes knocked to the ground in ongoing saga
A slice of history was made in August as houses which were either not built properly during the property boom or else were built but done badly were knocked.
From numerous council meetings, councillors repeatedly complained to senior executive officers and engineers that residents living in such estates were at the end of their tether about the state of unfinished estates.
At one such council meeting, the Kanturk-Mallow area meeting, it was decided to finally knock down houses in the region. In Kanturk, there were six houses at the front of the Dun an Oir estate demolished which was hot on the heels of 10 houses in Lismire which also suffered the same fate. Cllr John Paul O’Shea (Ind) said the six houses in Kanturk had huge cracks in them and have been in danger of falling for a number of years. He stated that AIB released the bond, which at the time was believed to be €150,000 to both knock the houses and complete the estate and to have it taken in charge. In a statement from some Dun an Oir residents, they thanked Cllr O’Shea, along with Liz Donovan, municipal district officer for all their help. Cllr O’Shea said an engineer’s report stated that no amount of structural work or underpinning could be done to have made the houses liveable. Cllr O’Shea also said there are some estates in North Cork which also needed to be addressed but he said some owners have been very pro-active, but nto all have been so engaging to rectify the issues. In nearby Lismire, 10 houses were also knocked to the ground. They proved to be a major headache for some residents in the region, with many of the houses which were unfinished for many years.
Many councillors praised the actions of John Ahern of Cork Cork Council for his professional and pro-active stance over the last number of years dealing with estates.