'They were shamed into it' - City council repairs tenant’s fireplace ‘after five years’

A social housing resident of the Noonan’s Rd flats has spoken about her surprise when her fireplace was repaired by Cork City Council recently after five years of asking.

Jacqueline Ashbourne, a local authority tenant who has lived in the Noonan’s Rd flats for the past 21 years, said she had been requesting a repair to the fireplace since 2018.

“I waited for five years,” Ms Ashbourne told The Echo. “It started off as a small crack in my fireplace, and I was onto Cork City Council, ‘Can you please come up and fill in the crack’, and nobody came up, nobody wanted to know.” 

Ms Ashbourne, who is 66, said she had rang the council every week, to no avail, “till in the end we got to the pandemic, so nobody was doing anything for anyone, which is fair enough.

“After that, I got my stepdaughter to keep phoning them, could they please come up and fix it, because it was getting really bad, and as this continued, you could put your hand through the back of it and actually pull out the insulation at the back of the fireplace,” she said.

“I’m asthmatic and I have COPD, so it wasn’t helping me, but I can’t use the gas because that makes my chest even worse, so I have an open fire, and that’s the only form of heating that I have.”

'SHAMED INTO IT'

Ms Ashbourne said that she spent the past winter being very careful with the fireplace because of the open hole in the back.

“I wasn’t burning too much coal or too much of anything, just having a small fire of an evening and keeping your coat on all day to keep yourself warm,” she said.

“I was dumbfounded... when two young workmen showed up and said: ‘Oh, we have a docket here to fix your fire’. I went: ‘What? Excuse me, it’s only taken you five years to get here!’” 

Ms Ashbourne said that within an hour a brand new grate had been fitted, and her fireplace repaired.

She said she credits media attention for the council finally repairing her fireplace.

“They were shamed into it,” she said.

The Echo carried a story about Noonan’s Rd in recent weeks, and residents have since told their stories here and on local radio, and several city councillors have spoken of their frustration at the pace of works carried out at the complex.

Independent councillor Mick Finn said he had made, over the past decade, 387 representations on behalf of Noonan’s Rd residents.

Ms Ashbourne believes it is too late to repair the flats.

“I personally think it would cost too much to refurbish Noonan’s Rd,” she said.

“I think retrofitting won’t work, you’ve got buildings falling apart and balconies that have pieces falling off of them, and some of the flats are so damp they’re full of mould.

“We’re suffering terribly up here, there’s a lot of people suffering worse than me. 

"I mean the rats and the mice are getting worse and worse and worse.”

Ms Ashbourne believes that the best thing to do would be to rehouse the tenants, knock the flats and rebuild, and allow those who wish to move back to the rebuilt homes the option to do so.

She said she was delighted that her fireplace had been repaired, but added:

“I don’t just want this to be for me, I want it to be for everyone who lives in Noonan’s Rd,” she said.

Cork City Council was asked for a comment.