Most residents plan to settle there for the long term. Many of them took out large mortgages to buy their dream home as the development was completed between 1986 and 1992.

However the dream soon became a nightmare.

For over a decade, residents have been living in a limbo in which service provision and the maintenance have not been taken over by Kildare county council, and the developer has also neglected the estate.

"Urgent remedial work needs to be carried out on the walls and footpaths in the estate as the paths are subsiding and some of the estate walls are cracked. If one of the walls collapses, we don't even know who is responsible, " explained Paul Croghan, chairperson of the Moyglare Village Residents' Association.

"Nobody ever provided litter bins on the estate. We have to carry out all the repairs ourselves and we have to collect money annually from each householder in the estate to cover the cost of maintaining it. For the past few years the residents have been paying for the maintenance of the estate which costs a minimum of 3,000 a year. On top of that we had to put down some new footpaths at a cost of 5,000 last year."

Subsiding footpaths, cracked walls and broken kerbs are all evident as you enter the estate. Under the surface there are problems with sewage and residents can rhyme off a litany of other complaints.

The residents of Moyglare Village are not alone. Angry residents in suburban housing estates all over Ireland have now decided that enough is enough. A national network is being set up by beleaguered homeowners to lobby the government for a solution to the problem.

The Sunday Tribune can also reveal that residents' associations in suburban housing estates around the country are considering putting forward independent candidates in the next general election to highlight their plight.

"We have decided to form a network of residents associations, as the government might pay more attention to one coherent voice, " said Ray Dully of Courtown Park Residents' Association in Kilcock, Co Kildare. "There are 19,000 homeowners in Kildare alone who have been affected by developers leaving estates unfinished and the council not taking them over so we are interested in hearing from other people who find themselves in the same situation.

We are also considering putting forward election candidates to highlight the issue."

Catherine Murphy, Independent TD for North Kildare, believes the national network is a "positive move". She said:

"It is good to see the public becoming proactive and residents' associations sharing their experiences could be a good move towards resolving the situation."

Murphy has also called on environment minister Dick Roche to do an audit of all local authorities to assess the extent of the problem.

Ray Dully is one of the residents of the Kilcock estate who have been struggling for well over a decade to get their estate taken in charge by Kildare county council. Courtown Park has been built over 25years and the developer has not landscaped it. As a result residents have been caught between the developer's noncompliance and the local council's inaction and now feel that a national campaign is the only way forward.

"Our residents' association is spending up to 5,000 a year for grass cutting and landscaping, " explained Dully.

"When the M4 motorway was being built, the developer allowed clay and rubble to be dumped in 30-foot high mounds in the estate. The area was like a wasteland and it was extremely dangerous as the mounds were used by children as an adventure playground. We became so frustrated that we had to hire out a digger and remove the mounds ourselves."

James Cotter, chairperson of the Courtown residents' association, said: "As our estate was not taken in charge nobody fixed our perimeter fence when it broke. As a result we had the terrifying situation of young toddlers being able to go from our estate through the broken fence into a building site that had deep holes. I would have more consumer rights if I bought a doll's house and found a fault in it than I have after buying a house to live in."

Back in Maynooth, Paul Croghan, said: "We are at the end of our tether as we have problems that need serious investment and we cannot afford to pay for them. There are serious problems with sewage in the area when water levels are high and residents have to pay 350 to have it taken away. If the estate was taken in charge this would be carried out by the council. We have been living in limbo for the past 14 years. Things are getting worse and we feel let down by the council, the developers and the legislation."

Fianna Fail backbench TD Charlie O'Connor has thrown his weight behind the homeowners' plight. "We should learn from the mistakes of the past and this should not be allowed to happen, " he said.

"A number of estates in my own area of Tallaght have been problematic over the years and I believe a new approach is needed where the government insists on a more effective approach to be taken by the local authorities."

Murrough O'Brien, who has been living in a new estate in Tyrellstown, Co Dublin, since 2003, believes the residents in his estate are paying "double taxation", being forced to pay extortionate fees for estate maintenance.

"We have sent a petition to Fingal county council to take the estate in hand as we were not given information about the management fees when buying the property. Everybody is blaming everyone else, but no-one is willing to take responsibility for this double taxation."

Eamon Gilmore, Labour spokesman on the environment, has accused the government of reneging on a commitment made last year to deal with the issue.

"In March, I tabled the Planning and Development Bill 2005, to deal with the blight of unfinished housing estates, " said Gilmore."The government supported the bill and indicated that, subject to a number of amendments, they would facilitate its passage through the Dail. Almost a year later it appears the government has reneged on that commitment."

A spokesman for Dick Roche said: "As far as the minister is concerned the current legislation is more than sufficient. There is an obligation on local authorities to take estates in charge. The intention is that some parts of Deputy Gilmore's bill will be contained in the soon to be published Strategic Infrastructure Bill."

As it could be up to a year before the bill becomes law, the problem of unfinished housing estates is likely to be one of the most contentious issues affecting people in suburban areas in the lead-up to next year's general election.