A housing estate once labelled the "worst address" in Sligo, which has been transformed since it was taken over by a housing association, is celebrating what it hopes will be the start of a less troubled future.
The official opening of the renamed Racecourse View marks the end of the infamous Banks Drive. People with that address couldn't get insurance, say they had no hope of getting a job, and were looked down on by people who lived only streets away.
Part of the large local authority Cranmore Estate, it was built in the 1970s. By the 1990s it was grim and depressing, although it escaped the scourge of hard drugs.
"It was as bad and bleak as anywhere we have seen. It was like somewhere in Dublin in the 80s. The buildings were in rag order and there was a level of despair," said Janet Kehelly of Cluid Housing Association, which now owns Racecourse View.
In 1999, Sligo Corporation asked the housing association, then known as St Pancras, to take over Banks Drive. It was the first transfer in the State of a local authority estate to a housing association although a number of others have happened since. Cluid has more recently taken over St Joseph's Mansions in inner-city Dublin.
Women who lived in Banks Drive from the early days when it was a new and trouble-free area through the worst times when they say they couldn't let their children out on the street, were this week scathing of Sligo Corporation's management of it.
But Mr Des McGarry, the corporation's estate manager, said that once decline set in the kind of funding which would have been needed to revamp the estate was never available. Housing associations like Cluid can access the necessary funding from Department of the Environment and some £4 million has been spent on Racecourse View.
Cluid Housing Association recognised a radical transformation was needed. By 1999, most of the 40 or so houses were boarded up, having been vandalised once vacated. Nobody wanted to move there. Some houses were damaged by fire and others were rat-infested. Stolen cars were abandoned in the street and the area was a venue for regular drink and drug parties. The pebble-dash fronts had become a grimy black and windows and doors were rotting.
"You couldn't get a new window or door and the windows were hanging off. I rang the corporation 14 times about a toilet that was leaking but in the end I just gave up," said one woman this week.
Over the past two years, a number of houses were demolished to make way for a central green area with seating and trees. Ten new houses were built and existing houses were renovated with new roofs, doors and windows. They are painted in different pastel shades and flower baskets hang from front doors. An all-weather pitch with a basketball court has been built.
Despite the new condition of the houses, however, there was no huge rush to get into them. Most Cluid schemes are oversubscribed but that was not the case with Racecourse View, although all the houses are now occupied. "There was a stigma attached to it and people didn't want to move back," said Ms Treacy Mitchell, who works with Cluid in the North West.
It is accepted that changing the physical environment is one thing, but only time will tell if its old reputation will be consigned to history.
The housing association, through its obligatory six-week pre-tenancy courses and tenancy agreements, aims to build up a community spirit. More than half of the houses are now occupied by new tenants.
"We try to make people responsible for their living environment but it is about empowerment more than enforcement," said Ms Mitchell.
The atmosphere in the area has changed. Banks Drive always had a very active community centre, where a Department of Health-funded Springboard family support project has proved successful.
Women, gathered in a newly-built community centre, say they have hope for the future. "At least you can walk out onto the street in peace and you can let the children out," said one woman. Many of the women didn't want to give their names - media reports in the past have all been negative.
Mrs Marian Farrell, who reared four children in Banks Drive and is now bringing up her grandchild, said she was delighted with the change. "It is the best thing that ever happened," she said.