User:rorynoonanDate:15/02/2013Time:11:10:56Edition:15/02/2013Frifriecho150213Page:1Color:
EE - V2
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2013
EDITION NO. 34,836
Serving Cork for 120 years Home dream turns into a nightmare
RRP: e1.50
Cork gig for Rats
By RONAN BAGNALL A GLANMIRE couple has spoken of a soul-destroying, two-year wait for basic works to be completed in the unfinished estate where they bought their dream home. Stephen and Sarah Crowley, a recently married couple in their twenties, invested in a new home to start a life together in the Fernwood estate in Glanmire. Almost two years after they moved in, they’re still looking out at a potholed gravel road surface that fills with water every time it rains, unsightly wire fencing to protect half-built homes and mounds of earth where a manicured green should be. There are street poles but no lights attached. Described as the most visible symbol of the Celtic Tiger collapse, the problem of unfinished housing estates continues to cause major headaches for thousands of couples across the country. ● See page 4 for more.
CORK GIG: The Boomtown Rats who will play at Live at the Marquee on July 5 as part of their reunion tour. See page three.
5,000 plus face bin debt collector
A FURTHER 5,299 former bin collection customers of Cork County Council will be targeted by a debt collector from next week with demand letters, repeated phone calls and text messages to their private mobiles. Management of Cork County Council has ignored strong protests
By RONAN BAGNALL
from its elected members by pressing ahead with a controversial debt collecting method. Agency Stubbs Gazette has already sent out letters to homes in north Cork and west Cork but is now to target a further 5,299 customers in south Cork, beginning with the first
batch of 500 letters on Monday. There was uproar at a council meeting earlier this week when the members of all political parties condemned council management’s decision to employ a debt collector, to recoup arrears owing on its refuse collection accounts. The agency was set on former customers even though the council itself hadn’t sent out a single reminder
letter for arrears for almost two and a half years. The council sold its refuse collection service in September 2010 and customers transferred to the private sector. Thousands of people did not pay the final council bill and heard nothing more from the council from October 2010 when the last bills were sent out. €1.8 million is owed to the council. ● Continued on page two.
WEATHER F TONIGHT
L: 6°C Scattered showers Winds: S at 8-16 mph
15.02.13 Recommended retail price €1.50
�������� ���� ���� � ��������� ���� ����
��������� ��� ����� � ���� ������� ������ �������� �������� ����� ������� ����� ����� � ��� ��� ���� ������� ����� ������� ������ ����� � ��� ���� ��� ������� ������ ������ �� �������� ������ � ������
�����������������������
������ �� �� ��������
���� ������ �� ������� ��������� ���� ��� ��������� ���������
� ����� ��� ���������� ������ �������� ���� �� ���� �����