Committee on Public Petitions debate -
Thursday, 13 Oct 2022

Consideration of Public Petition on Taking in Charge: Mr. Terence Coskeran

Chairman

Our next business is our engagement with Mr. Terence Coskeran, petitioner, on petition No. 00021/21, taking in charge.

Before we begin, I will explain some limitations to parliamentary privilege and the practice of the House as regards references witnesses may make to other persons in their evidence. The evidence of witnesses physically present or who give evidence from within the parliamentary precincts is protected pursuant to the Constitution and statute by absolute privilege. Witnesses are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable or otherwise engage in speech that may be regarded as damaging to the good name of the person or entity. Therefore, if their statements are potentially defamatory with regard to an identifiable person or entity, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks. It is imperative that they comply with such a direction.

Before we hear from our witness, I propose that we publish his opening statement on the committee's website. Is that agreed? Agreed.

On behalf of the committee, I extend a warm welcome to Mr. Coskeran. I suggest that he make his opening statement, which should last for around ten minutes. We will then have questions and comments from members. If members keep to around five or six minutes, it will give them an opportunity to come back in afterwards for supplementary questions and allow members to speak more than once. I invite Mr. Coskeran to make his opening statement.

Mr. Terence Coskeran

What is taking in charge? It is a process and a means by which a local authority takes in charge all of the infrastructure of an estate that has been constructed by a private individual or company.

This is done after all the roads, footpaths, open spaces, foul and surface water sewers, water mains and public lighting are completed by the individual in accordance with the approved plans. It is a big undertaking as one is taking a greenfield site and handing back to the local authority a completed housing estate at no cost to the council. This is done in addition to paying the development fees. The council sends out an application form on request and a list of the criteria that must be complied with. Most of this work has to be done by a professional engineer, who has to sign off on it.

My story begins well, with the council making a request, sending me correspondence and, indeed, threatening enforcement letters for it to take Rocksprings in charge. I was not at that stage in a position to fully comply with its order due to the economic downturn as some items were unfinished in the estate. However, this was navigated successfully and all the houses and other works were finished. I set about complying with the council's request for taking in charge. With the works completed, I was in contact with Tipperary County Council. The council sent me the form and a document about the taking in charge process, and what they needed in that regard. After reading the document, I was left in no doubt that this was possible and would be completed forthwith following my lodgement of the necessary documentation to the council. How wrong I was. I was entering a nightmare scenario with the offices of the State through no fault of my own.

Who is Terence Coskeran? I am Terence Coskeran. I went to London in 1962, aged eight, and returned to Ireland permanently in 1985. The reason I returned home was primarily because I wanted to give my two children the opportunity to experience growing up in a rural environment. This was an opportunity I felt I was deprived of myself due to the economic situation in Ireland in 1962. We have enjoyed a good and fulfilling life since returning, working and experiencing all that is good about life in Ireland. I have no regrets.

Rocksprings is a five-house development in the rural village of Kilross, west of Tipperary town. When I received the planning permission for five houses in Rocksprings, Kilross, one of the planning conditions was that the council would take in charge the estate following a written request to do so, with reference to planning condition No. 36. I entered the agreement in good faith and agreed to abide by the conditions as per planning. When all of the works were completed, I applied to the local authority for an application form for the taking in charge process. I duly filled it out and submitted it to the council. I received back a letter from the council saying that my application was received in the office on 11 July 2016 and that it would be processed in due course.

After some time had elapsed, I received a letter on 15 March 2017 from the council confirming that my application had been submitted and that it was currently processing same. I received a further letter from the council on 3 August 2017 regarding the taking in charge process with the same message. On 22 August 2018, I received a letter from the council stating that it was unable to progress the taking in charge of Rocksprings due to the presence of a wastewater treatment plant on the site. The reason given was a memorandum of understanding agreed on 8 December 2015 between Irish Water and Tipperary County Council, which excluded taking in charge residential developments served by stand-alone infrastructure. The only agreement I have is with Tipperary County Council, which, as part of planning condition No. 21, requested that a wastewater treatment plant be installed on site. My engineer’s original plan, suggested to the council, was for the five houses in Rocksprings to connect to the Hillview public wastewater treatment plant in the village, rather than have two wastewater treatment plants side by side. Furthermore, planning condition No. 36 states that when all works are completed and subject to inspection, the council would take in charge the estate.

I dispute the validity of the council’s argument on the memorandum of understanding agreement. I had never received any correspondence from Irish Water whatsoever and had never engaged with the company on any matter at this stage. I endeavoured to explore the new situation in which I found myself. I contacted the council and was constantly informed that I was ultimately responsible for all services until matters in respect of the wastewater treatment plant had been finalised by Irish Water and local government. I dispute this, and cannot see its validity. A letter of 25/1/22 from Dáire McGrath of Tipperary County Council to Deputy Mattie McGrath, an email to me from Evelyn Harty, Tipperary County Council, dated 30/4/2020, and a further email to me from Claire Hennessy of Irish Water, dated 11/3/2021, clearly show the issue to be a matter between local government and Irish Water, an agency of the State created in 2014, subsequent to the arrangements in place at the time I commenced the development. I met all of the obligations required of me in that agreement. I feel I have been a pawn in this while two arms of the State battle it out over who has responsibility. Tipperary County Council should honour its part in solving the issue and take in charge Rocksprings estate.

I continued to try and find a way to resolve this impasse. I contacted public representatives about the problem up to and including the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The council informed me that the solution lay with the Government. The Minister's office informed me that the decision as to whether any particular estate should be taken in charge is ultimately one for the elected members of the local authority. At that stage, I felt confused and dismayed at the contradictory nature of the responses. I then wrote to Irish Water. Its correspondence, dated 11 March 2021, confirms that the taking in charge is currently the responsibility of the local authority and that Irish Water is only involved with local authorities in accessing the taking in charge of certain types of residential estates and the transfer of water services assets to Irish Water for ongoing operation and maintenance. It further points out that Rocksprings estate is not included in the terms of reference of the memorandum of understanding for these discussions, thereby confirming the taking in charge of Rocksprings is solely a matter for Tipperary County Council and is not part of the discussion on the memorandum of understanding agreement. I was surprised, however, that when water charges were going to be implemented, Irish Water installed meters in our estate and removed the ones I had put in. This was done without any notification to me that it was going to happen or that they were being installed. Who authorised this work to be carried out in Rocksprings? If not me, I assume in all probability that it must have been Tipperary County Council.

The other four residents and I have to pay for the upkeep of the estate. This is done through a management company for which I am responsible. I have had to meet the inevitable shortfall in funding as a result of the expenses incurred by the company. The estate has been maintained to a high standard at all times over the past 18 years. We all have to pay our property tax as well. I also must maintain and pay for a bond with the council at a cost of €525 per year. This I have been paying for the past 18 years with no end in sight. I have asked the council to release this bond on several occasions but have always received a negative response. I have requested help with the upgrading of the public lighting to LED fittings but also received a negative reply. Any assistance I have asked for has been refused. No help whatsoever has been received from the local authority regarding Rocksprings estate, which came as a surprise to me. When the local authority was widening the main road, I was asked for a portion of my land at the front of the estate to accommodate it. I gave willingly without hesitation and did not seek a monetary reward.

There is one other very important issue at stake here for me to worry about and which causes endless sleepless nights. When all the infrastructure was completed, I paid for the cost of this as per planning. What is to happen in the future when upgrades or repairs are required? Who will bear the cost? Surely not me. I have already fulfilled my obligation in that regard.

I continue to explore all avenues. This matter is having an adverse effect on me. I commenced this project when I was 50 years of age. This issue arose when I was 62. I am now in my 69th year. It has consumed a considerable amount of my energy and time in my retirement years. I am disturbed that the agreement into which I entered in good faith has not been honoured and I greatly fear it will not be honoured in the near future. I would like the estate to be taken in charge forthwith. I am now a senior citizen of the State and do not want this legacy to impact the lives of those I leave behind.

I thank the committee for this opportunity. The process today has reconfirmed for me the value of a democracy that will listen to and seek to help its citizens in a meaningful way. I also want to thank all those who have helped me today in seeking a solution to this issue.

Chairman

Before inviting other members to come in, I have a few questions. On the face of it, it looks like an open-and-shut case. Mr. Coskeran had an agreement with a local authority 14 years before Irish Water was set up. It has a responsibility to see that through. How does he feel about his level of engagement with Tipperary County Council through the years? Does he feel the council followed the proper procedure for taking in charge?

Mr. Terence Coskeran

No, I do not. I have with me a copy of the procedure for taking in charge when an application is lodged with the council. It clearly states that within a month of its receiving the application, it will respond with a list of items to be finished. I have now waited 2,285 days to get any response and there is nothing in sight. I feel very aggrieved. I entered this agreement in good faith and I did everything asked of me. I have never had anyone contact me. I have tried on occasion to make contact. I have written to the CEO of Tipperary County Council asking him to meet me to see if we could manoeuvre our way through this impasse without any success.

Chairman

That is absolutely crazy. Local authority CEOs should meet people like Mr. Coskeran. We, as public representatives, regularly deal with estates where developers have walked away and left things up in a heap - ghost estates, call them what you like. Here is a development that has been finished to a high standard. I know the estate and I know Hillview beside it. To my mind there is a very simple solution. The engineer at the time said the best way to go about dealing with the wastewater was to connect the water treatment plant to Hillview just beside Mr. Coskeran's estate. The council turned that down at the time because it claimed the system was not capable of taking the other five houses. Subsequently, it agreed that it is. It does not seem like rocket science that for the sake of maybe ten 6 in. pipes to connect Rocksprings to Hillview and all this could be solved. It is another case of bureaucracy and red tape getting in the way of common sense.

Mr. Terence Coskeran

It does not make one iota of sense to me. The original plan suggested by the engineer was refused. However, when the council applied, local government funding was available to resolve this issue. It stated that it wanted the funding to do exactly what the Chairman has said in the sense that to connect to Hillview is the answer to this. It is only a few lengths of pipe away. As I said in my submission, rather than having two wastewater treatment plants side by side, this is the solution to the problem. My only agreement has ever been with Tipperary County Council. I have met all my obligations. It keeps telling me about my responsibilities. Surely responsibility is the two-way street. If I have done mine, where is its responsibility? I am left out on a limb. I am a prisoner in my own home. I cannot sell it because I cannot move on.

Chairman

Every day we hear in the Dáil that housing is a major problem. We have a developer here who built five houses and finished the estate to a high standard and is stuck in limbo which is crazy. As I am sure Deputy Buckley and others will say, when we as local authority members raised such issues, we were always told it was Irish Water or the Department. The Minister's office has stated the decision to take any particular estate into charge is ultimately one for the elected members of the local authority. Local authorities in Tipperary and around the country need to take this on board. This is the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage stating it has responsibility. It is not acceptable for local authorities in Tipperary, Cork Galway or wherever to pass the buck on and back. It is just going around in circles and people like Mr. Coskeran are being caught and are suffering.

Deputy Pat Buckley

I welcome Mr. Coskeran. I can hear a number of mixed emotions in his statement. My background before politics was in construction and I was involved in roads, sewerage, the whole lot. I know exactly where he is coming from. I cannot understand that he has struggled for so many years. It is not that it is a 200-house estate; it is five homes. Mr. Coskeran has done as he said in the memorandum of understanding and has ticked all his boxes. Is the treatment plant submersible pumps or does it need to be pumped out at a cost?

Mr. Coskeran ticked all his boxes and brought his estate up to where it should be. I cannot understand why the council is using Irish Water as an excuse because basically Irish Water and the council are the one entity anyway, but probably with too many people in top management. Mr. Coskeran mentioned water meters. Is the estate private still because it is not taken in charge or have they just accepted willy-nilly that they can do what they want?

Mr. Coskeran is right. This committee is probably one of the last committees in this House that shows that there should be and there is a proper democracy here that helps its citizens. I could hear from his tone that he is saying he has done his part of the bargain and he wants the local authority to do its part and take the estate in charge. Why is it so difficult for the local authority to give a straightforward answer? As he said, even if it was capacity issues, capacity issues change over years. I accept that. However, the capacity issues in Mr. Coskeran's five houses should not be their stumbling block for the estate to be connected either to the additional sewer, a new line or wherever it is going.

I hear his frustration. I hope that by his coming here today to the committee it can be resolved. I have no questions to ask Mr. Coskeran. I wish I could tell him that everything will be fine after today. If we need to ask someone from Tipperary County Council to come in and explain why it has not been taken in charge and try to get answers, we will do it. I thank Mr. Coskeran for his honesty and patience. I can hear considerable anger and bitterness from him. There has been an injustice here over red tape and I think it is wrong.

Mr. Terence Coskeran

In reply to Deputy Buckley's question, the wastewater treatment plant is a submersible pump. It needs to be pumped out every year. It also needs to be serviced every year at a cost to the residents. When the other four residents bought their houses, they did so on the understanding that when all works were done, the management fees would go and they could live their lives. When the property tax was introduced, that was an additional cost for those people. It is so frustrating that we never get anywhere.

To my way of thinking, right is always right and wrong is always wrong. However, in this case right for me is right but wrong for the other side does not appear to be wrong. If I have an agreement with anyone, I will abide by it. How can the council just shuffle it around and send me from pillar to post and then when I get to it again, send me around on another trip? It is so frustrating. I am now in my 69th year. I had problems when I left Ireland initially in 1962.

I come back in all good faith and now I am here at the end of it. I am thinking to myself, my God, has it changed for me? I was doing everything and now I am here in the last few years of my life and this thing will not even give me peace in death because it passes on. This how frustrating it is. It is fine for council officials to go home and they will leave their office on Friday night. I am there on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Council officials will leave their roles in the council and they will go some place else. They will go off and retire but I do not have that luxury. This is with me. This is like a noose around my neck that will not go away. Why is this the case? It is because somebody who has an agreement will not honour it and they keep using other excuses.

Like I said, Irish Water came in ten years after I had the agreement. How can they do this to a normal person, to an ordinary Joe Soap who has gone around and done his best for his life on this earth, of which there is not much left? It is the last few years to be battling and arguing and shouting and going from pillar to post.

Finally, like I said earlier in my finishing up, I thank this committee for being afforded this opportunity to vent my frustration today. I do not want anybody to go jail or to be hanged or anything like that over this. All I want is fair play and for somebody else to take charge of their responsibilities and not to keep telling me about mine. I have done mine. Why do they keep telling me about my responsibilities? I have a stack of letters here that I could show to members that are telling me about my responsibility. God knows, responsibility is a two-way street in my street. If someone does something, the other person has to live up to their end.

Deputy Pat Buckley

I can understand that. Again, it sounds very weird. If the council has not taken charge of the estate, why are there property taxes on those houses if the estate is not finished? It is just another issue that I want to flag up. It seems to me that all Mr. Coskeran’s appeals have been utterly and totally ignored. The big problem here is that in this common-sense approach, those two words, “common” and “sense”, do not seem to be anywhere in it. Mr. Coskeran speaks with his heart and soul because he put everything into it and he still seems to be very badly treated on this issue. I will leave the committee with this but if we take nothing else from this committee today, my one suggestion is to bring in the county council and to get answers for Mr. Coskeran because this is what this committee is for. It is about giving citizens a voice. As I said, we are public representatives, it is our job and we are trying to do things right as well. Mr. Coskeran is right. It is either right or it is wrong. There should be no middle ground in this and there should be no hiding.

Chairman

I second that. I would go further and would look for the Department and the Minister himself to come before the committee, as well as the county council. I know it is easy for us to say but Mr. Coskeran has done everything he can. It is a damning indictment of the council, the Department and Irish Water that they have an individual getting so upset about something that should be easily fixed. It is a problem of their making, not of Mr. Coskeran’s. I hope the media picks up on this and tries to ask questions of the Department, the Minister, the county council and Irish Water.

I have a couple of questions as well and I am looking at the council’s submission to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. In September 2019, the council made a submission to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, under the multi-annual developer-provided water services infrastructure resolution programme. Rocksprings was ranked fourth priority of 11. The council went on to state that the resolution of this impasse is not within the control of Tipperary County Council but is a national issue of legacy matters to be resolved and it will continue to follow that up with Irish Water and the Department. That goes back to what I was saying earlier. It seems to be going around in circles. The council is saying it is the Department but the Department is saying it is the elected members of Tipperary County Council who should make the decision.

If nothing else comes from today’s committee meeting, as Deputy Buckley said, we will ask the county council and the Minister to come before the committee because I am also looking at the letter from Claire Hennessy, which was an email from Irish Water on 2 November 2021. Irish Water informed Mr. Coskeran that the memorandum of understanding between Irish Water and the local authorities specifically excludes estates with their own wastewater treatment plants provided by the developer. They go on to note that Irish Water does not have the existing network and wastewater treatment plants which could cover Rocksprings. It also notes that the neighbouring Hillview estate had not at the time transferred from the local authority to Irish Water and therefore it was not an Irish Water asset. As such, Irish Water could not advise on connecting Rocksprings to Hillview. That seems to confirm that Irish Water itself is saying it had no responsibility. Why then is it even in the picture if it is saying that it has no responsibility for it? It should be the Department and the county council.

It comes back then to the fact that councillors have always looked for lights to be fixed in estates such as Mr. Coskeran’s. He would have heard that the council cannot go in and fix a light because if they fix one light, it is then deemed to have taken charge of that estate and the developer can walk away. It has refused Mr. Coskeran lights there. However, someone has made a decision to allow Irish Water, which says it has no responsibility for that estate, to go in and change meters. Who gave Irish Water the go-ahead to enter a private, unfinished estate, as the council has said, to change water meters? Did anybody ever explain to Mr. Coskeran who gave them permission to go in and change the water meters?

Mr. Terence Coskeran

No. As I said in my submission, the water meters were changed but I had put in water meters initially. The next thing is that when water charges were about to be introduced, all the water meters were changed. It astounds me. I did not give permission, so obviously somebody must have given it. I assume in all probability that it was the council. What amazes me about this is that they have no problem with taking responsibility for the water that is coming in but there is an awful problem with the water that is going out. I had a pub for years and this reminds of how if somebody came in and paid for their drink, we would tell them that they could drink away. If they asked where the toilet was, we would not say, “We do not have one, you will have to take that with you”. That is the way I felt when the water meters were put in. Surely, as they allowed people to come in and put in water meters, was that not assuming responsibility for the estate? Is it private only when they deem it to be private? Is it public then when something like this, like when the water charges were about to be implemented, comes into force? Again, my sole intention in coming here today, as it has been for the last 2,285 days, is to get this resolved and for the council to do what it is right in taking charge of Rocksprings. That is all I want. I want nothing else. That is all I want.

Chairman

Is Mr. Coskeran aware of any other developers who are caught in a situation like his own?

Mr. Terence Coskeran

I daresay there are probably several of them around the country. It beggars belief. When I was getting threatening enforcement letters from the council around 2013, I believe these may have been sent out to me because there was a fear that the estate might not be finished, that I might have walked away from it, that I was in financial difficulty or that it might never be done. This was not the case. When I had the means, I finished it and I therefore thought they had been badgering me so they could take charge of the estate.

I sent off the form and when I heard nothing back, I thought it was it brilliant because they were supposed to get back me within a month, but nobody got back to me. I thought it was happy days. I got a letter from them eight months after I had sent in the application, which was nearly two years since the memorandum of understanding was signed to say, to say that they were processing my application. That indicates to me that they were looking at this. Suddenly, I got a letter a few weeks later to say that they cannot, because a memorandum of understanding signed on 8 December 2015 prohibits them from doing it. Surely, they knew this when they received my application. Why would they be telling me eight months later that they were processing something that they knew, according to themselves, they could not take in charge?

That beggars belief. How can a national body say that it is sorting something out and then eight months after receiving a request, it suddenly realises that it cannot do so? That is a terrible injustice to an individual. All I want is for this to be taken in charge and then I can live the rest of my life in peace. I do not want to pass on a legacy to my children, through no fault of my own. For me to have to pass it on to somebody else is a dire situation, as far as I am concerned.

Chairman

During the nine or ten years that you dealt with the council, did it ever inform you that your case was being handed over to Irish Water or did it just go ahead with that?

Mr. Terence Coskeran

Nobody from the council ever mentioned Irish Water to me. It was not until I got that letter on 22 August, 2018 that I first became aware that Irish Water had anything to do with the estate. I assumed that I had an agreement with the council.

Chairman

The first mention you heard of Irish Water was in 2018. Is that right?

Mr. Terence Coskeran

Yes.

Chairman

After 14 years of dealing with the council, suddenly Irish Water was involved.

Mr. Terence Coskeran

Yes. Irish Water came on the scene then.

Chairman

Are the other houses in the estate owner-occupied or rented?

Mr. Terence Coskeran

They are all owner-occupied now.

Chairman

Given the negative experience you and your family have had, if you had your time back again, would you take on a project like this again? We keep saying that we need people like you to build estates with five or six houses all over the country, but knowing what you know now, would you do it again?

Mr. Terence Coskeran

I would run a hundred miles and would advise anyone else to do the same.

Chairman

That is a damning indictment. Every day in the Dáil Chamber we hear that we need people to build to increase the supply but if stupid red tape is putting people off building houses, we are never going to solve the housing problem.

Mr. Terence Coskeran

If you want to torment people, get them to build and then deal with a local authority. They will have enough torment and frustration to last them 100 lifetimes.

Chairman

It should not be the case that someone who has a written agreement ends up as distressed as you. It is quite clear and obvious that you have done everything you were asked to do at all stages and the fact that you have to come in here and put your case before this committee-----

Mr. Terence Coskeran

I also have a long-suffering wife at home who has had to listen to me talking about this morning, noon and night. I keep telling her that it is about to be resolved, that they have told me that the end is near. Near? It is getting further away.

Chairman

As I said, I hope that the media picks up on this and that we can get answers. The next thing this committee can do is call in the county council and the Department and see if we can get answers from them. I assure you that is what we will attempt to do. We will try to get this resolved as soon as possible, on your behalf. We will try to knock heads together and get people to use a bit of common sense.

Deputy Pat Buckley

I apologise for being late. I have read all of the documentation and have listened to Mr. Coskeran's testimony today. I am nearly as angry as he is and I can see where he is coming from. It is not only Mr. Coskeran and his family that are affected. There are other families affected by this too. Mr. Coskeran had a memorandum of understanding. He signed a deal, a contract. He stuck to the terms of that contract but somewhere along the way, something changed. Irish Water got involved in 2018. I cannot understand why an engineer was not sent out. Why was an engineer from Irish Water not sent out? Mr. Coskeran still has to pay for the maintenance because technically, it has not been taken in charge.

There is also another issue. Mr. Coskeran should have been exempt from property tax because the site was not finished. There was a pardon granted but I cannot remember the exact year. I lived in the back of an estate that was unfinished and there was one year when we did not have to pay property tax. I cannot believe that Mr. Coskeran has had to come in here to this committee. It is an indictment of our local authorities that they cannot work with local people to resolve simple issues. I cannot understand it. This has gone on for 2,285 days. That is absolute torture. Somebody made a mistake somewhere along the way and does not want to own up to it, but Mr. Coskeran and his family, as well as the other families living on the estate, are bearing the brunt.

I agree with the Chairman that if this is not resolved today, those who are responsible should be brought before this committee. They will be brought in here and asked to explain why this has gone on for so long. Mr. Coskeran, his family and other families have been mistreated. There is no evidence of a commonsense approach here. There is nothing but red tape. Mr. Coskeran writes to the them, they write back to him but surely someone in a council van, an engineer, can visit the site. I am not an engineer but if I go into an estate, I know if the sewerage lines are done. Cameras can be used to check. The council can check footpaths, lighting and everything else. Irish Water is responsible for the water going in and out. The council is responsible for footpaths, electricity and so on. That is it and yet Mr. Coskeran has been fighting with the council for years and years. Now he is in here and we are listening to his account. I am as frustrated as he is now. Hopefully, the press will pick up on this but, unfortunately, Mr. Coskeran's battle is not finished yet. We will get representatives of the council and others who are responsible in here to provide answers. This has been going on for so long that an apology should also be on the way to Mr. Coskeran. This is an awful way to treat any person, regardless of the circumstances.

Having listened to Mr. Coskeran, it is clear that somebody somewhere along the line within the ranks of the council has made a mistake and it was buried. Now we have only confusion. As we see in many committees, accountability and responsibility are the keys to getting anything done but if people are not willing to accept that, we will not get a result. I wish I could say to Mr. Coskeran that this will be sorted within a week but I cannot. What I will say is that we have to get answers on this. We must get answers from the body that is responsible, which is the council. That is the body with which Mr. Coskeran has a contract and an agreement. He honoured his side of the agreement. Why has the council not honoured its side?

Chairman

Thanks Deputy. Mr. Coskeran was a very quiet man when the council came looking for some of his land to widen the road. He gave over the land quite easily but it is remarkable the way he has been treated.

Mr. Terence Coskeran

It was the right thing to do. I know that in other instances the council had fierce difficulties getting land for works. In my case, it was the right thing to do. The council needed to come in a bit to widen the road and if one life could be saved from that, then I would have done my duty. It rankled with me when I did that. I am not looking for glory here and I did not look for any money because it was the right thing to do. I did think, however, that the council might treat me fairly. I am not looking for any favours. I just want what is right.

On Deputy Buckley's point regarding CCTV cameras for the sewers, they were included. When the council sent me the application form, I had to get CCTV footage and send it to it with the application. Did I hear anything back about it? Was it right or wrong? Two thousand two hundred and eighty-five days later, I am looking out for the postman. I look out on Christmas Day and New Year's Day and in the new year, but there is still no sign. Nobody has ever mentioned my application, no more than if I sent it to the moon. It is like what a young fellow once said to me when I used to drive a school bus. He was sending letters to Santa. I asked him how he posted them. He said he did not post them but that he put them in the fire. I asked him how they get to Santa and he said "Magic". I should have done that with my application, because it is the same response that I am getting.

Chairman

I cannot explain our frustration in dealing with this. I see that the five-house Rocksprings estate was included in the council's application for funding under the multi-annual developer-provided water services infrastructure programme in September 2019. The estimated cost for the completion of works by the county council was €53,000. It is a pittance compared with other costs that might arise. The problem could be resolved for such a small amount of money and everything could be finished.

Mr. Coskeran seems to be attracting a lot of blame to himself. The blame lies with county councils, the Department and Irish Water. Like I said before, it is easy for us as public representatives to say what we are saying to Mr. Coskeran, but it is he, his family and the other families who are dealing with the matter daily. The blame should be laid where Mr. Coskeran and we know it should be laid. I refer to those who made an agreement with Mr. Coskeran and did not honour it.

Deputy Pat Buckley

I am grateful for this exchange because this is the relevant platform. The way Mr. Coskeran has been treated represents a total injustice. I will not use a choice word but members know what I mean. Certainly, somebody's head has to roll for this and, in order to explain what happened, somebody has to put up a hand and say he or she made a mistake or otherwise. Rocksprings estate needs to be taken in charge urgently. As Mr. Coskeran said, he produced the CCTV and had everything done. The estate was like a turnkey estate, yet nobody is giving him proper answers years down the road. I just cannot believe it. I thank Mr. Coskeran for attending today.

Chairman

I thank Mr. Coskeran again. Does he want to make a closing statement?

Mr. Terence Coskeran

I thank the Chair and other members of the committee for affording me this opportunity. If this is not resolved, individuals like me will be sent letters and sent on a merry-go-round. In my dealings with public representatives, some have been very supportive and some have not been so supportive, but at least the members of the committee have listened. All I want to do is end this and get people to stand up and say they will do what they signed up to do. The Chairman said that the load should not be carried by me. However, the council has added its load to my load but there is only one person pushing the barrow, namely me. It is terrible for someone nearing his seventieth year, facing his last few years on this earth and doing what I do. I am involved with Kilross Tidy Towns, I volunteer with the Order of Malta, and I am involved with Aherlow GAA. Why can I not be left to enjoy my last few years instead of having this tormenting me morning, noon and night, Sunday, Monday, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, New Year's Eve and on birthdays and wedding anniversaries, with my long-suffering wife, Margaret, at home and my two children? It is not on.

Chairman

We fully understand what Mr. Coskeran is talking about. As I said, I hope the media pick up on this. I also hope the county council and Department will do so and have a small bit of cop-on and take Mr. Coskeran's finger out. This is a problem that can be solved very easily, as far as I am concerned. It has come across in the remarks of Mr. Coskeran and the members that no one should have to carry what he has had to carry because of the failures of others. As we said at the very start of this meeting, what Mr. Coskeran has done by way of correspondence and everything he has done at Rocksprings, to the highest quality, reflects what we preach to others in respect of finishing estates to top-quality standards, with finished roads and footpaths. That Mr. Coskeran has done that for the council and is being treated as he is being treated is just not right or proper. The only assurance we can give him is that if we do not get satisfactory answers back from the Department and county council, we will have their representatives sitting in front of us to answer the questions we will put to them on his behalf to get this resolved.

Mr. Terence Coskeran

I thank the Chairman. I hope the council will man up and do what it signed up to do, which is take Rocksprings in charge and rid me of the burden my family and I are carrying. Again, I thank the committee for affording me this opportunity. It has invigorated me. If anybody from the council believes I am going to go away, they should know I am not. This has to be resolved and the council has to do its duty instead of kicking the can down the road and blaming someone else. Can someone explain to me why I have been waiting for 2,285 days for a reply to an application the council has received? Not one word has been uttered to me about my application or whether it was made correctly. What is the council going to do? Is it going to tell me, seven or eight years after sending in my application, that this or that is wrong? I ask you.

Chairman

It is totally wrong that any individual or body should have to wait that long to get a reply. I do not know what you could call it but it is not professional. You could call it many things but it is not professional of any county council or Department to leave somebody hanging on that long without even replying.

Mr. Terence Coskeran

Yes. My final word is that Tipperary County Council should please do what it signed up to do and take the estate in charge. I will be appealing to the public representatives to do what the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage says is their ultimate responsibility, that is, to man up and make the council take the estate in charge. The Minister said to me in an email that it is the ultimate responsibility of the local representatives of the area. Maybe this is what we should be focusing on, in addition to focusing on the council.

Chairman

The Department has made it quite clear that the public representatives on the councils make the final decision. That is an avenue we can explore. I thank Mr. Coskeran. We will suspend for a couple of minutes to allow the petitioner to leave the room.

Sitting suspended at 2.28 p.m. and resumed at 2.32 p.m.