An estate filled with bricked-up, unliveable, houses has been described as an "eyesore" by the people who live there.
St Patrick's Park in Rathangan, Co Kildare was once a full and vibrant estate but plans to expand the estate in 2007 turned it into an "eyesore".
According to one resident, the estate is now a stain on the town.
St Patrick's Place, Kildare
Eamon Broughan, a resident in St Patrick's Place estate said that when he originally moved into his home he was "delighted with it."
Broughan actually worked as a builder when the estate was first built in the early 1980s.
In 2007 when Kildare County Council proposed a development to the estate to bring in more social housing the majority of residents were in agreement with that but some homeowners were not.
The council came back the following year offering to buy out the homeowners. It has bought homes as they have become available to the local authority for more than a decade.
Kildare County Council told The Mirror that it had blocked up the houses for "security reasons".
For the people who still live in the estate however, they are a "horrible, disgusting" eyesore at a time when homelessness figures are rising.
In the week 20 to 26 February, 186 adults in Kildare accessed emergency accommodation, according to the latest data from the Department of Housing.
Apart from the unsightliness of the estate, the lack of people also adds to a sense of loneliness for those who remain as residents told us St Patrick's Place doesn't have the same community feel it once did.
"I have lovely, lovely neighbours and they're gone," one resident said.
"There's no one to talk to," she explained, "we used to have an old natter over the hedge ... I don't really communicate with anyone in here".
She added she wanted the council to get the houses back into use and "get the Park done right".
Broughan meanwhile is doing what he can to make the estate look and feel comfortable. He tends to flowers and lawns in his neighbouring gardens.
He added that not only was the estate an "eyesore" but in the context of the housing crisis it's a "scandal".
"It's a dirty tag on the place, not only on this estate but on the town".
Kildare County Council's plans for St Patrick's Park estate
In a statement to The Mirror, Kildare County Council said: "When the Regeneration and Remedial Works scheme was first proposed, there were several vacant and heavily damaged dwellings in St Patricks Park, which prompted Kildare County Council to recommend the estate for this scheme.
"As houses became vacant or became available for purchase, Kildare County Council acquired the units.
"Those units were blocked up for security reasons until the commencement of the Regeneration and Remedial Works scheme."
In late 2019 the first part of the scheme was completed and 34 vacant and occupied housing units were upgraded.
The council is currently in the second phase part of which includes includes the demolition of 15 units, the construction of seven new units as well as the refurbishment and retrofitting works on 17 empty units and eight occupied units," according to the council.
"There are currently 27 vacant units in St. Patrick’s Park 10 of those vacant units are planned for demolition and 17 for refurbishment works, as per the proposal adopted by members.
"Meetings with residents affected by the works to clarify the next steps are currently underway."
Once that scheme is complete, the council has no further plans to develop the estate.
Ireland's ghost estates
Ghost estates like St Patrick's Park (and this one in Glendale) are not only a physical scar on the landscape but a reminder of the continuing waste that is allowed even during a housing crisis.
There are still 75 ghost estates in Ireland, 15 years after the 2008 crash, according to the latest figures from the Department of Housing.
That's a decrease of 49 'unfinished developments' from 2020 and a 98 per cent reduction from 2010 when there were 2,846 such estates.
In 2010, there were more than 100,000 partially-built homes dotted around the country.
Over 12 years later, more than 500 people are still living in partially-completed estates.
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