‘Living hell’ in Mount Merrion

A LOCAL elderly couple say their lives have been made a ‘living hell’ due to ongoing construction work close to their home.

Tom Fahey and his wife Maura live in Cherrygarth, a small estate between Mount Merrion and Stillorgan.

Their home is sandwiched between two major construction projects, one 30 meters from their front door and the second approximately 20 meters from the back wall.

They both suffer from serious chronic illnesses with Maura suffering from a cancer which renders her extremely sensitive to noise.

Tom and Maura Fahey

“Our troubles started when work commenced on the Oaklands project in June 2021,” Tom Fahey tells Southside People.

“When demolition and site clearance work started without any notice to the residents or a commencement certificate which is a planning regulation.

“The certificate was not approved until mid-August when the work was well advanced.

“Initial work involved the clearing of hedges, trees, and vegetation.

“This was an area rich in bird and wildlife with large numbers of nesting birds, foxes and squirrels and the habitat was destroyed in middle of the nesting season.

“This type of work is specifically forbidden by the Wildlife Acts between March and August.”

The footpath outside Tom and Maura’s home has been dug up a second time to install a sewer/wastewater drain for the Oatlands development

When demolition of the monastery started around mid-July, they claim their house and garden were covered in concrete dust.

“I made almost daily complaints to DLR which were either ignored or were not given a satisfactory response,” Fahy says.

“Despite making at least 50 complaints to DLR to date no effective or obvious action was taken.

“Windows were continuously covered in dust and the developer agreed to clean their windows on one occasion.

“Despite numerous complaints and a number of letters from their solicitor DLR Planning has chosen either to ignore the issue, pass the complaint from one department to another or pass it to another agency, or dismiss their complaints with a denial by the developer.”

Tom says Maura, himself and his neighbours are woken at 6.30 each morning by extremely loud noise from the site and this continues until late evening and sometimes at weekends.

This despite a restriction on work before 7am.

Because of Maura’s noise intolerance the Faheys have been forced to invest significant sums in noise abatement measures.

This has taken a heavy toll on her health. The noise and dust are a cause of much stress and worry.

“The road and footpaths are now being dug up for a second time in two years,” Fahey says.

“For the past three weeks the estate is a mess with some residents being prevented from accessing their homes by car for periods of 2-3 weeks.

“There is no AF2 Form displayed anywhere visible around the site. This is a regulatory requirement

“There is no signage showing who is the contractor and or developer or of anyone connected to the site.”

Tom Fahey says he has ascertained that the developer is McCreevy Enterprises Limited based in County Down, and the builder is Rhinescape Limited who are based in Dundalk.

Southside People contacted both parties for a comment in relation to this story but had not received a reply at the time of going to press.

We also contacted DLR County Council and were told: “The Planning Authority do not comment on individual cases.”

“All these issues have been notified to DLR and the HSA and it has no effect,” Mr Fahey says.

“A major issue with our planning process is the lack of any protection for people living adjacent to large developments.

“There is little or no ongoing supervision of work on sites by the Local Authorities.

“Neither Local Authority Planners nor An Bord Pleanala have any consistency in the conditions they impose when granting planning permissions.

“There is no legislative requirement for a builder to submit a Construction Management Plan although it is sometimes included as a condition.

“There is no effective legislative protection for the health and wellbeing of residents and whatever regulations exist the relevant authorities are very reluctant to enforce them.”