Cork tenants question timing of clean-up at Noonan's Road ahead of City Council visit 

Some tenants of local authority housing on Noonan’s Road and St Finbarr’s Road have questioned the timing of a large-scale clean-up of the area which has taken place days before a planned visit by the assistant chief executive of Cork City Council.

In recent weeks, appalling living conditions in the neighbouring developments have been highlighted in The Echo and other media outlets, with residents complaining that they felt “abandoned” by the city council.

Tenants in the two flat complexes say they are living in dilapidated homes which are prone to dampness and mould and which are regularly infested by rats and mice.

Residents have claimed that the city council has “forgotten” them, and has failed repeatedly to respond to requests to make repairs to their homes, while some local councillors have expressed frustration that representations they have made over years have not resulted in action being taken.

Brian Geaney, the city council’s assistant chief executive, was due to visit council accommodation on Noonan’s Road, St Finbarr’s Road, Dean Street and Fort Street on Monday evening with other members of the executive and city councillors.

On Friday morning, four workers, who told The Echo they were contractors working for the city council, arrived at Noonan’s Road in three trucks and began a clean-up operation which some residents claimed had resulted in “a minimum of 15 truckloads of rubbish” being cleared from disused gardens behind the flats.

The work continued on Saturday morning, residents said, with trees and undergrowth cleared, and pathways strimmed and cleaned.

William O’Brien, a local activist who has been highlighting the plight of local residents in the Noonan’s Road and St Finbarr’s Road areas, said residents had received no notice of the clean-up, and many had questioned the timing of the activity.

“People were saying ‘Why now?’ and there was a suspicion that it only happened because it was ahead of this visit, it has really dampened the spirits of some residents, this should have been done 10 years ago, or 20 years ago, and it only happened now ahead of this visit by the executive,” Mr O’Brien said.

Questions of Cost

Cork City Council did not respond on Monday to a query from The Echo asking how much the clean-up had cost.

Ahead of Monday evening’s visit by the city council executive, one Noonan’s Road resident said the vermin problem in the area had become so bad that he had personally caught seven rats, and his neighbours have asked him to help trap rodents by their homes too.

Colin Banks said he had trapped seven rats in one of the overgrown gardens near to his home in recent weeks, and he has been asked by neighbours to trap rats by their homes too.

In video footage supplied to The Echo, two trapped and large rats squeal and screech from the cage.

Mr Banks said rats were a huge issue in the area and, he claimed, despite numerous calls by residents, Cork City Council had not sent anyone to address the issue.

Mr Banks and his partner, Sarah Murphy, have a four-week-old baby, and Ms Murphy has two daughters, one aged 10 and the other 15. They said their flat, and the property underneath, were infested with mice.

“You could often sit down here [in the living room], and you could hear the mice going in the ceiling and the walls like they’re having an argument,” Mr Banks said.

Ms Murphy said her older daughter is autistic and she needs to be able to keep an eye on her, but she is unable to leave the door open for fear of rodents.

“I need somewhere I can open the door, and she needs to be able to go outside and get a bit of exercise,” Ms Murphy said.

'Beyond Fixing'

Ms Murphy said she and her family needed to be rehoused, as, she said, the Noonan’s Road flats were “beyond fixing”.

“We need a decent home, someplace we can bring up our kids in safety with a bit of dignity,” she said.

“If we got an offer of a place we’d be gone in the morning.” 

Independent Councillor Mick Finn, who has, since he was elected in 2009, made 387 representations to Cork City Council on behalf of residents in Noonan’s Road, told The Echo he and other councillors had been asking the council to address residents’ issues in the area for years.

“We’ve been asking for the blocks of flats, on Noonan’s Road and St Finbarr’s Road, and to a lesser extent, Fort Street and Dean Street, to be addressed, and for the tenants to be listened to,” Cllr Finn said.

“There’s not a week goes by that I don’t get a call about windows, leaking chimneys, rodent problems, overgrown gardens, all the major work that’s been required has always been put off because we’ve been told big work was due, but 10, 15 years later, that work still hasn’t happened.” 

Cllr Finn said he was "a bit more confident" that, following the recent activism of local residents, and the resultant media attention, progress would be made.

"That may entail residents leaving, and getting alternative accommodation, and maybe knocking what's there and rebuilding, but that of course will take time," Cllr Finn said.

On Saturday evening, Cllr Finn visited one home on Noonan’s Rd with William O’Brien, and the two men were told by the tenant that she felt the city council had “ignored” her requests for help.

The walls of her ground floor flat were covered in black mould, with the ceilings showing cracks and further signs of damp and damage. The tenant said she had had no heating in her flat since she had moved in, and there was no hot water.

She said her home was infested with mice and she was “terrified” of rats, a number of which had been trapped recently by one of her neighbours.

Cork City Council was asked for a comment.