'I was taken aback' - Carlow ghost estate highlighted nationally as reporter films tour

A reporter has placed a Carlow ghost estate in the national spotlight after filming a tour of the site. 

Josh Crosbie travelled to Glendale Estate outside Tullow in Co Carlow as part of a segment on The Pat Kenny Show to highlight Ireland's remaining ghost estates. 

The estate - once envisioned as a retirement village - was sold at auction ten years ago for approximately €10,000 per house and has sat unused ever since. 

However, locals have recently expressed shock following news of plans to demolish 14 houses on the site which are deemed to be too close together. 

It comes amidst news of record homelessness figures and the recent release of Department of Housing figures revealing 75 ghost estates still dot the countryside. 

Figures from the Department of Housing show that there are 75 so-called ghost estates across the country.

They range from vacant estates to semi-occupied developments.

Newstalk reporter @JoshCrosbie3 visited some of these locations and met frustrated residents

— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) January 31, 2023

According to Newstalk, Crosbie spoke to a local videographer and Tullow native who recently captured drone footage of the 62 houses on the Glendale site. 

Alan O'Reilly said, "It is kind of bizarre really for locals. We’ve been passing by it; maybe we’ve become used to seeing these houses fully finished. The recession came and things came to a halt and they’ve been halted ever since.

"Now we have a housing crisis and you might be talking about a lot of ghost estates maybe where there was only the base in – but here we have windows, we have doors, we have rooves, we have everything ready to go and it just seems like a huge opportunity that has been let go for the last ten years." 

A housing crisis you say? These are sitting there as a ghost estate for over 10 years on the edge of Tullow! pic.twitter.com/ePumPmPFAv

— Alan O'Reilly (@saloreilly) January 21, 2023

Despite being left empty for years, houses on the site are reportedly almost completed, with Crosbie stating he was "taken aback" when he arrived. 

He said, "Rows and rows of [sic] houses fully built, the insides are tiled, bathroom, toilets, fitted radiators, even the sockets and switches are on the walls, Pat, for over ten years just sitting completely idle." 

You can listen to Crosbie's full report here.