Posted online: Apr 4th, 2008

By Dermot Keys
dermot@letterkennpost.com

A Coolboy resident who allowed his property to be used by contractors working on the N56 Mountain Top road has expressed disgust with the state his land has been left in.
Paraig O’Sullivan had allowed land at the front of his house to be used as a turning point for machinery working on the development. There was an agreement that the land would be restored upon completion of the project.
“When they started the road, they needed to turn their lorries so we let them use our street,” said Mr O’Sullivan.
“They were not entitled to just walk away and leave it the mess it was in. They could have done it in a day with their machinery.”
“They used the place to fix their diggers and to park their machines. We were good to them and then they went and did that. I gave them every opportunity to fix it. They knew exactly what we wanted them to do. I’m so disgusted. You trust people and you’re dealing with people with integrity – supposedly. If you can’t trust them, who can you trust?”
Stones were spread at the front of the house but these were improperly spread and it appears that the ground was not properly rolled beforehand. A vehicle has already become stuck in the driveway since the work was done.
“About three weeks ago a taxi got bogged down and had to be towed out. The engineer came and put cones there to stop anyone else getting stuck.”
No further work has been done and the land beside the house remains ploughed up. The previous engineer on the job said that the contractor was meant to work on the property last Friday and added that the work would be done.
A spokesperson for the National Roads Design Office in Donegal Co Council stated that the deadline for work to be completed was next November but said they would follow up on any outstanding issues in the land agreement they had with Mr O’Sullivan.
He said that any separate agreement on the use of the land between Mr O’Sullivan and the contractor was a third party agreement, and advised against making agreements with contractors without proper contracts.