RESIDENTS in the Geraldine are in Athy have been forced to flee their homes because of foul smells coming from the sewerage system.

The terrace consists of 25 houses and the homeowners say the smell has been an issue on and off for approximately three years.

Marie Leigh, who has been living at Geraldine for about 22 years, said she, along with her husband, their three children and one-year-old granddaughter, had to vacate their home e on Sunday 10 February because the smell was sickening.

“The smell has been coming and going with the past three years or so. We could go a few weeks without any smell and then for no obvious reason the smell would come back. It seems to come up through the sink and when it is there we have to open the windows and doors to clear tit. This means that the house can be cold. Last Sunday was the worst it had ever been, we had to leave because we couldn’t stay in the house. It’s worse in the winter than it is in the summer and it gets particularly bad after a heavy fall of rain,” she said.

Marie is particularly fearful for the health of her one-year-old granddaughter. “When we left we went to the home of a relative and we came back at 7.30pm and we had the baby in bed by 8pm. I am fearful for the health of the baby and when there was a smell still in the house on Monday morning we decided to leave the house again for a while for her sake.”

Another resident said she had to cancel a visit from relatives from Dublin due to the foul smell. “We were supposed to have a child’s birthday party here on that Sunday and I had to tell relatives from Dublin not to travel down because the smell was so bad. It’s like being inside in a sewerage pit when the smell comes. It’s horrific, we are dealing with lilaceous fumes as far as I am concerned. I also had to cancel a visit from a friend during the summer and my take on it is that it is as bad during the summer as it is during the winter.”

She said her family would also have left their home due to the smell, however they were too ill to. “Four of us in the house were quite ill so eventhough we wanted to leave it was not an option, sure who would have us?” she ased.

“We also have a one-year-old in this house and the child has had ear, eyes and chest infections. I’m not saying that the illnesses have been because of the smell but I also can’t say that it wasn’t. On a scale of one to 10 this is a 12, what we have had to deal with is that bad.”

Town engineer Diarmuid Donoghue told the ****Kildare Nationalist********* that they were looking at all housign estates and publing stations along the pipeline and were working to get tot the bottom of the problem.

“Since we received complaints about the occurrence of the smell on Sunday we ramped up our efforts to find a resolution to the issue. We are trying to eliminate possibilities one by one,” he said adding that findign a solution was taking longer than hoped.

“For the past three weeks we have had the pumps off at Prusselstown Green and we were removing the sewerage by other means. We though that this had given us light at the end of the tunnel but as the pump station was off on that particular Sunday I am not so sure that this is where the problem arises from.”

Mr Donoghue said that he believes the issues at Geraldine and Leinster Street are connected. “Sewerage from Gallows Hill, Prusselstown Green and Rheban Manor are pumped under pressure to the Kildare Road and from there the sewerage travels by gravity down Leinster Street and onto Emily Square before being piped under the River Barrow to the treatment plant. My view is that the issues in the two areas are connected. I haven’t been at Geraldine when there has been a smell but I have observed a smell in another location and it is quite bad. We are very anxious to establish the cause of it. However as we are dealing with a number of possible sources of the smell it is taking a while.”

In conclusion Mr Donoghue said he couldn’t rule out getting outside experts to assist with solving the problem. “I am confident that between Athy Town Council and Kildare Co Council that we do have the expertise to resolve this issue. However if we don’t get to the bottom of this soon we may need to look at bringing in specialists from outside, I wouldn’t rule that out.”