Residents of the Na Cluainte housing estate in Portarlington, Co Offaly, have claimed that their estate has been left in an "appalling state" by a building company more than two years after the last house was finished.
One resident said half of her back garden was permanently under about two feet of water during the winter months and she could not let her three-year-old daughter out in case she fell into the water.
The Na Cluainte Residents' Association said the green area behind the houses was a cross between a building site and a swamp. There were problems with drainage and the fencing was dangerous, they said. House prices were devalued because of the problems with the estate, the association claimed.
Offaly County Council has initiated High Court proceedings against the Coalport Building Company over the matter. It has a Dublin-based office whose director, Tom McFeely, came to prominence as an IRA hunger striker in 1980. He is now a builder and property developer.
A spokeswoman for Coalport rejected the residents' criticism and said the necessary works were being completed as quickly as possible. She said the final landscaping work would be done when the weather improved. The workmen were on site all this week and the laying of new tarmac began last Monday, the spokeswoman added.
The Na Cluainte estate on the outskirts of Portarlington is a mixed development of 84 houses. Joelene Kenny, chairwoman of the residents' association, said some remedial works were being carried out but this was in a haphazard fashion and was too little, too late.
"There's still temporary fencing and I was here four years in October. It's extremely mucky and dirty and looks messy with builders' trucks and machines still going in and out. I think that this time next year we'll still be fighting to get the green area cleaned up. It's very disappointing."
Annmarie Taylor, a mother of two, said her three-year-old daughter no longer asked to go into the back garden because it was out of bounds for about nine months of the year. The bottom half of the garden floods regularly, sometimes reaching about two feet in places.
She said her daughter was getting to the stage where she could open the back door. "She has no concept of danger. If she went into the water, maybe to reach a toy, she could drown."
The spokeswoman for Coalport said the residents had been kept fully informed of progress and it was unclear why they were complaining when builders were on site, making improvements. The company was anxious to finish the work but had to wait for an improvement in the weather before bringing in machinery to landscape the grounds.
