These Celtic Tiger apartments stood half-built for 20 years. Locals want them finished

For close to 20 years, an unfinished apartment block has lain untouched on the outskirts of Carrickmacross in Co Monaghan. The block, situated at Magheross, is part of an estate known as Clós na Dromainne, which includes a number of houses that also sat incomplete and vacant. Now, a completion date of December 2027 has been set for the block of 14 two-bedroom apartments, with scaffolding erected in recent months. Two of the 12 houses have been finished and are on sale for €360,000, with the rest due to come on stream over the coming months, the developer has said. READ MOREThe apartment block and 12 houses, as well as a brownfield located at the back, were entered on to the Derelict Sites Register in July 2025, with levies of €216,650 outstanding, according to Monaghan County Council. Last May, the local authority issued a notice to compulsorily acquire the unfinished block. The matter was referred to An Coimisiún Pleanála following objections, with a decision not expected until early in the new year. Planning permission was originally granted in 2004 for the apartments, 19 town houses, a shopping centre and car park, with construction beginning two years later. The project came to a halt in 2008 following the financial crash, with the site changing hands in the intervening years. Developer Stephen McMurrough, from Belfast, said he acquired the land in June 2019, by way of share purchase of the owning entity East Coast Estates Ltd, in a “state of severe dereliction” with no construction activity having taken place in more than 10 years. Delays with utility installations caused problems, said McMurrough, with the project also “severely impacted” by the Covid-19 pandemic and cost inflation due to the Ukraine war. Houses in the development are nearing completion. Photograph: Enda O'Dowd Seven houses were delivered to the approved housing body Tuath in 2021. “These [seven] homes represented phase one of a 33-home development [for] which Tuath had entered into contract with East Coast Estates Limited,” a spokesman for Tuath said. “Unfortunately, notwithstanding numerous proposals put forward by Tuath in partnership with Monaghan County Council to facilitate the delivery of these remaining homes, our efforts proved unsuccessful and the developer failed to bring this project to completion.“Tuath has no existing or further contractual relationship with East Coast Estates Limited for the remaining 26 homes.”[ Are we about to solve Ireland’s dereliction problem?Opens in new window ]Attempts were made by McMurrough to avail of the Repair and Leasing Scheme – which provides property owners with an advance of up to €80,000 per unit to renovate vacant properties for social housing – to complete the derelict apartment block and finish the homes but were unsuccessful.McMurrough said he is “fully committed” to completing the development and doesn’t expect An Coimisiún Pleanála to find in favour of the council’s application. “Usually dereliction and CPO [compulsory purchase order] are used for sites that are inactive and have been lying derelict for years with no activity. It’s the opposite on this, we have activity,” he said. On the outstanding levy, McMurrough said he is awaiting the planning authority’s verdict. “Those levies of €200,000 will just further impact the financial viability of what these houses and apartments will cost when they’re finally finished,” he said. “We’re marketing at the minute and we’ve quite a bit of interest.”The apartment block will require 12 to 14 months before it is completed, he said, with a commencement notice issued at the start of September. “We’ve done our structural reports on that building and it is structurally sound. What we will do is remove any defective block work, or any defective steel work will be replaced. It’s basically a renovation project. “The three storeys that you see built are structurally sound. Once we treat the current block work that is there, which we have tested, and we have materials tested, it’s passed. The structural engineer will be certifying it. That building will be built to current building regulations and fire regulations.” There are “further housing plans” for the brownfield site and a planning application will be lodged imminently, he added.A Patrick Kavanagh mural near the writer's birthplace in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan. Photograph: Enda O'Dowd Monaghan County Council said it has “engaged extensively with the owner of these properties” and had received “several construction programmes to ensure that these properties are completed”. “Unfortunately, to date, these construction programmes have not been adhered to,” it said. “These properties have now been entered on to Co Monaghan Derelict Sites Register and are now subject to a derelict sites levy of 7 per cent.” The local authority said it was aware works are continuing on several units, and houses have been advertised for sale. “We are awaiting copies of architects’ certificates for substantial completion for these properties to confirm that all required construction works have been completed,” it said. “The certificate of substantial completion would confirm that each individual property is substantially complete and ready for occupation/sale. This information will allow the council to consider removing particular properties from the Derelict Sites Register.”One council official said it was “probably the most prominent derelict site in Co Monaghan” and that it had “reluctantly” placed the site on the Derelict Sites Register due to previous missed deadlines. “In fairness to the developer, Covid hit and that messed the whole thing up ... It is a complicated site but we would be delighted to see it finished. We’ve no interest applying the levy,” they added. Sinn Féin councillor Colm Carthy said the site has been an “eyesore” for the local community and is constantly raised with him by residents and businesses. “We’ve hit the developer now with the stick and that’s the derelict sites levy. That hopefully will push him to get them delivered quickly,” he said. A brownfield site lies unused beside an unfinished housing estate in Carrickmacross. Photograph: Enda O'Dowd “However, if we don’t see progress on them, and putting scaffolding around a building does not progress the development of a building, if that’s left like that, we as elected representatives have called for the council to CPO the building so that we can get it delivered not just for much-needed housing in the area but for much-needed social housing in the area.“We have to see this development completed and put into use. The council aren’t in the business of taking developments off developers for themselves. They would much prefer if he finished them himself and got them delivered for housing. “If he doesn’t meet his obligations, we have to step in because it has been lying like that for so long. It’s not acceptable for anybody.”