*Cronan residents who protested outside the offices of the Shannon Municipal District. Photograph: Joe Buckley
CRONAN RESIDENTS in Shannon took to the offices of the Shannon Municipal District to protest over the state of grass cutting in their estate claiming they have been “taken for complete mugs”.
Shannon’s largest estate has only had its grass cut once this year prompting local residents to protest over the matter on Friday morning.
Cronan Gardens, Cronan Grove, Cronan Lawn and Cronan Park are all included within the vast estate of Cronan which has a total of 247 dwellings
Chairman of the Cronan Residents Association, Derek Clune said they had been “taken for complete mugs”. He said, “We had one cut down on the 28th of February this year, that was the first cut for 2023, nine weeks have gone and there’s been none then since. We’ve contacted the Shannon Municipal District on several occasions complaining about this and we’ve been told that the reason from the contractor is underfoot conditions are not good enough. We, the people living in Cronan, I’m living there 45 years, we know our area, we know the dry areas and there are a few wet areas”.
Clune said they invited both the grass contractor and staff in the Shannon MD to walk the area that a problem was reported to have been encountered. “We invited the grass contractor and representatives from the Shannon MD to walk the areas with us and show us what they are talking about, as of yet they haven’t responded or said they will come down or they won’t come down but they haven’t come down which is very unfortunate. The grass contractor also informed the Council that there was a cut done in Cronan on the 19th of March, anyone who knows their calendar will know that was Sunday, Mother’s Day this year so there was no grass cut and the residents really felt that was the final straw that they were being taken for complete mugs”.
A source for Clare County Council told The Clare Echo, “the weather conditions prohibited maintenance as the ground was getting damaged” with cutting machines sinking on the ground”.
This stance has been dissed by the Cronan residents. “We completely refute that opinion, we know the area better than anyone else, we’ve walked the area and the areas they didn’t cut are dryer than the areas they didn’t cut. We invited the contractor and the Municipal District to come down with us and bring one of their machines to prove to us but they won’t, they have not responded to that and I think it is the least they could do, they keep telling us we will have to wait for the next cycle which will mean we’ve missed four grass cuts. When they do cut it, they will leave it to rot on the ground, the height it is at the moment and it being left to rot will make it look worse than it is at the moment”.
“At the moment it is like a silage field after nine weeks. We have children in the area who can’t play there, we had a young fella playing hurling, he hit a ball forty yards and we spent nearly half an hour to forty minutes looking for it, the grass is up to their knees and it’s like a silage field. If a contractor came in, he could get twenty to thirty bales of silage, that is how bad it is, it is completely unacceptable at this day and age in the middle of a housing estate with young children, elder people who can’t go out in the green areas to walk them”.
Prior to the 2019 local election, grass cutting or the lack of proved to be one of the main election issues in Shannon Town. Derek acknowledged that the overall picture has improved since then. “A new contractor came in back in 2021 and it has improved but for some reason this year whatever happens down in Cronan, they cut one area and found it wet, then they decided to leave the whole area uncut based on one area, that is the problem. The grass cutting has improved overall in Shannon but this issue needs to be nipped in the bud before it gets any worse”.
Clune concluded, “I’m also the Chairman of the Tidy Towns in Shannon, it was unfortunate that the protest had to happen because Shannon Tidy Towns have a good relationship with the Shannon Municipal District, we’ve a lot of good work done which accumulated in getting a bronze medal in 2022 in the National Tidy Towns competition, this was a great achievement and the first time we got into the medals but it is unfortunate it had to come to this but we had no other choice but to have this protest”.
Grass was cut on Thursday last, residents have confirmed but they are not happy with the standard of this.
