Towards the end of last year, significant meetings of residents were held in west Dublin in opposition to the imposition of management company fees for the maintenance of basic public services, which in other areas are funded from general taxation.

As a result Tyrrelstown, Castlecurragh and Ongar estates, comprising about 4,000 houses, now have action groups established to campaign for the abolition of the management company structure that was foisted on residents.

Meanwhile, about 20 residents in Tyrrelstown are being dragged into court for refusing to pay the fees demanded. The Tyrrelstown Action Group – Campaign To Abolish Management Fees – is assisting these householders and planning to fight the cases in court with a strong legal team. Plans to raise funds for this legal strategy are being drawn up involving going door to door in the estates seeking support from all who endorse the campaign.

Last October, Socialist Party T.D. Joe Higgins and independent T.D. for Kildare North, Catherine Murphy, put the issue of management company fees in new housing estates firmly into the public domain when they tackled the Taoiseach and the Minister for the Environment on the issue in the Dáil. Since then, residents from different areas faced with this problem have been in touch and a more general meeting with residents’ representatives may be held.

About six years ago, the concept of management fees was introduced for new housing estates, making new homeowners responsible for external services such as the public open spaces and public liability insurance.

Certain local authorities put the formation of management companies as a condition of giving planning permission. This was a sneaky and dishonest way of privatising public services that the local authorities should be responsible for maintaining as in all previously built estates. This means a new local tax on the affected householders.

Fingal County Council has been particularly active in pushing management companies. Among the excuses used is that the higher density housing requires this. This is one of the fastest growing population centres in Europe and there has been a huge increase in the number of residential units allowed per acre. But what this means is that enormous amounts of direct and indirect taxation are collected from these new residents. Residents are now demanding that some of these resources be utilised for services instead of putting new burdens on their shoulders.

The new housing estate developers have enthusiastically em-braced the management company idea, since they gain handsomely. Previously, they would have to provide basic maintenance of new estates from their profits until they were taken in charge by the local authorities, a process which could take some years. Now they can levy fees for basic maintenance on those residents from whom they have already made massive profits.