Allowing people live in damp and mould conditions ‘simply wrong’

Residents in several council apartments and senior citizen buildings have reported a severe lack of attention from Dublin City Council as mould, damp and general maintenance issues have gone unheard.

Poor living conditions have been reported in Bernard Curtis House and La Touche senior citizens complex in Bluebell, Davitt House and Lissadel maisonettes in Drimnagh and Rossaveal senior citizens complex in Ballyfermot.

As well as concerns about widespread damp and mould, there are further issues in Lissadel Road maisonettes, where residents are dealing with general dilapidation of their homes as there is a lack of upkeep from the council.

Photos show deteriorated plumbing works, with one resident’s bathroom sink completely coming away from the wall making it unfit for purpose.

Residents have also reported kitchen cabinets falling off their hinges and an open sewer located in the front garden of the maisonettes.

The sewer is covered only by a rotten piece of wood which when removed, fully displays the wastewater system.

Councillor Daithí Doolan spoke to The Echo about what needs to be done by the council to ensure these problems are resolved through full repair works and not general maintenance, saying he hopes that “the council will upgrade their properties, so that they last long into the future.”

“So that we’re not constantly limping from maintenance crisis to maintenance crisis, trying to literally paint over the cracks to get rid of dampness at a superficial level rather than tackling it at the source and to make sure that the residents who move in there know that they’re living in good quality housing, and their health will be protected long into the future” Councillor Doolan added.

In terms of action, he called for a survey to be held to identify where the dampness is located in each property followed by the publication of a time frame for an action plan with an individual in charge of its oversight and timely delivery.

The health and wellbeing of the residents in these complexes is a concern for Cllr Doolan, with conditions such as asthma and COPD only exacerbated by damp conditions.

He called for greater action from the government also, saying

“Allowing people living conditions that affect them mentally and emotionally is simply wrong.

‘It shouldn’t be happening in 21st century Dublin, a European capital, where the government are constantly banging their chests and blowing their trumpets, that they have a budget surplus of 9.6 billion, and these people are not deserving some of that money to upgrade their homes and give them somewhere decent to live.”

Funded by the Local Democracy reporting Scheme