'Inhuman conditions': St Finbarr's Road residents want Cork city chief executive to visit their homes

LOCAL authority tenants of the St Finbarr’s Rd flats have called on the chief executive of Cork City Council to visit their homes and see what they say are “inhuman” conditions.

Residents say many of their homes are damp and full of mould, with many of the exterior walls showing extreme cracks indicative of subsidence, while balconies appear to be crumbling, with lumps of concrete falling off to expose rusted wire frameworks beneath.

Of the 24 flats on St Finbarr’s Rd, the majority are local authority properties, five of which are currently empty, and the gardens of several of those unoccupied properties are filled with rubbish and mattresses and are overgrown.

Residents say there have been numerous incidents of rodent infestation in the flats, and they say the overgrown gardens are “overrun” with rats.

The St Finbarr’s Rd flats are next to the Noonan’s Road complex, where poor housing conditions have been highlighted by The Echo in the past fortnight.

It is understood that members of the council’s executive are planning visits to both properties in the coming weeks.

Residents of St Finbarr’s Rd say that despite numerous attempts to contact Cork City Council, much like their neighbours on Noonan’s Rd, they have had no engagement by a tenancy liaison officer.

Several of the residents have called on the chief executive of Cork City Council to visit their homes to see the conditions in which the council’s tenants are forced to live.

'COME UP AND LOOK AT THE CONDITIONS'

“Where is the chief executive, Ann Doherty, in all of this?” asked Denis Hackett, a resident of St Finbarr’s Rd. 

“She’s running the city, so why hasn’t she come up and taken a look at the conditions we’re living in?”

In one home, visited by The Echo, water from the previous night’s rain was still flowing down the inside of a bedroom wall, leaving carpets and rugs saturated, and in the home’s neat bathroom, rugs on the floor had to be wrung out as water ran down the walls.

St Finbarr’s Rd tenants say they have been forgotten by Cork City Council, and they say that just like the residents of the nearby Noonan’s Road flats, they have been paying their rent to a landlord who has failed to maintain their homes.

Mr Hackett said there was a strong community spirit in the Noonan’s Rd and St Finbarr’s Rd area.

“There are five families here in St Finbarr’s Rd related to five families in Noonan’s Road, and there is a fabulous sense of family and community here, with great neighbours and friends here across generations,” he said.

Mr Hackett said that, for the majority of residents, their preference would be that the buildings be knocked and rebuilt, and he felt that most would move back in if their homes were rebuilt to modern standards.

“If these buildings were in liveable condition, you wouldn’t hear a word out of anyone here,” he said. “We’d be happy out if our homes were maintained by the council, but it’s not fair that people have been forgotten and ignored for so long.”

One resident, Karen Morrissey, showed The Echo the damage done to her home by dampness.

'THE DAMP KEEPS COMING BACK'

“I’m 26 years here and the place is soaking,” she said. 

“I’m spraying the walls for mildew and trying to paint over it, but the damp keeps coming back.”

William O’Brien, a community activist who has been highlighting the plight of social housing tenants in Noonan’s Rd and St Finbarr’s Rd, said it was clear that the human rights of local housing tenants were being breached by Cork City Council.

“It’s shocking to see the idle houses that are here, battered, their gardens covered in Japanese knotweed, boarded up in a housing crisis, there’s been no implementation of housing inspections, no visits from housing officers, tenancy support officers for vulnerable tenants living next to vacant properties that have been condemned,” he said.

“People here, when they see the conditions they’ve been left in, there’s no more shame for them, the shame belongs to Cork City Council.”

Ray Cooper, a resident, said his bathroom was prone to dampness, and despite repeated calls to the council to fix his windows, nothing had been done across several years.

“We’re living in squalor, and it’s not right or proper,” said Mr Cooper.

“I’m probably months in credit with my rent, and they won’t come out and fix my home.”

A spokesperson for Cork City Council said its housing directorate had recently undertaken “a detailed survey and assessment of the housing units in the Noonan’s Rd area, which includes Saint Finbarr’s Rd, with a view to the progression of their refurbishment/upgrade, to include deep energy retrofit.

“The council is currently reviewing the survey findings in order to consider the next steps to the progression of sustainable and appropriate solutions to the housing development in the area.

“Residents and elected representatives will be advised of progress in this regard in due course.”