Cork residents highlight dilapidated and neglected homes, claiming city council 'forgot' them
A photo illustrating the damp and dilapidated conditions at Fort Street.
Social housing tenants on Fort Street, beside St Finn Barre’s Cathedral and Elizabeth Fort, claim their homes are just as dilapidated and neglected as those in the nearby Noonan’s Road flats, and they feel just as ignored by Cork City Council.
The 20 flats on Fort Street are of a standard design as those in Noonan’s Road and St Finbarr’s Road, and date from the same period in the 1960s.
has recently highlighted dire living conditions there. Among the issues facing tenants have been leaking roofs, structural cracking, crumbling masonry, damp and mould, and rodent infestation, and the residents there say they have been “abandoned” and “ignored” by Cork City Council for many years.
Tenants on Fort Street say they have been dealing with exactly the same problems as their neighbours, and they claim they too have been “forgotten” by Cork City Council.
On external walls, plaster is bubbling and cracked, with pieces of masonry missing from overhead sills, while internal walls are prone to leaks, damp and mould.
Kate Beattie has been a council tenant at Fort Street since 2005 and black mould is a recurring problem in her home.
Ms Beattie suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and she is recovering from throat cancer, which has left her with a tracheostomy.
"I use Cillit Bang on the mould, but the smell really upsets my throat,” she said.
“I’m in the middle bedroom, which also has mould, and it is so damp I have to use a dehumidifier all the time, but that dries my chest out and makes my COPD worse.”
Ms Beattie said the floorboards in her bedroom have come away from the wall, and she is concerned that the external wall is unsafe.
She said she has contacted the council many times over the years.
“I’m a good tenant and I’m months ahead in my rent,” Ms Beattie said.“I would love to stay living here, if they would just fix the problems, but as things are, it’s just making me sicker all the time to be here.”
Anita Mukhtar has lived on Fort Street since 2013 and although she has twice asked for a transfer, she has twice been refused. She said both of her children suffer from asthma, and damp had been a constant issue in their flat.
She said that the roof had been leaking badly, and black mould had been a constant problem.
“The council is very bad to reply, and eventually my husband and me, we take out a loan and we spent €10,000 to fix the place,” she said. “The chimney was leaking and the wall inside was swollen from the water, and eventually the plaster fell off the wall.
Rubbish had been dumped in some of the gardens behind the flats Ms Mukhtar said, and this had led to a problem with rats in the area.
Anti-social behaviour has also been an ongoing issue on Fort Street, with addicts breaking into empty flats and sheltering in them as they inject themselves.
One tenant, who asked not to be named, is 54 and is recovering from cancer. A tenant on Fort Street for over a decade, he showed around his small flat.
Removing two litres from a dehumidifier in the centre of his living room, he said the device was constantly busy.
“It’s going today since 10 o’clock this morning and it’s now 4 o’clock, and it’s actually not that bad today because it’s quite warm, but it’s drawing water out of the air all the time,” he said.
Hanging on the back of the living room door was a waxed coat, badly stained with damp.
“If it can do that to a waxed coat, what do you think it’s been doing to my lungs all these years?” he asked.
William O’Brien, a local activist who has been highlighting the plight of local authority tenants living in substandard housing conditions, said the Fort Street flats were a repetition of the situation in Noonan’s Road and St Finbarr’s Road, and seemed indicative of a lack of attention on the part of the council.
“It’s a simple fact that private landlords would not be allowed to put people into housing of this standard, so why are public landlords getting away with it?” he asked.
Asked for a comment on conditions in the Fort Street flats, a spokesperson for Cork City Council said: “Please note that the homes at Fort Street are included in the ongoing assessment work being undertaken by Cork City Council.”
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