'When it rains, it rains through my kitchen': Cork residents raise concerns over living conditions 

RESIDENTS of a housing estate on the northside of Cork city have raised concerns about living conditions, calling for maintenance work to be carried out.

Some residents of Fairfield Meadows, in Fairhill, gathered yesterday evening, with Socialist Party councillor Brian McCarthy and TD Mick Barry, calling on Cork City Council to carry out maintenance works on their homes.

In 2018, funding for repairs to homes in Fairfield Meadows was secured as part of an €11m loan-funded scheme, which saw 1,200 local authority homes in Cork city earmarked for repairs or upgrades.

However, residents have said that there are still ongoing issues with some of the houses.

One resident told The Echo that she has two en-suite bathrooms with showers and, in her 17 years of living there, has only used them once as “water is pouring through the ceilings”.

Another resident raised concerns about flooding in the area, saying her house was “destroyed” in the recent heavy rainfall.

“When it rains, it rains in through my kitchen,” she said. “My top bedroom is flooded. My middle sitting room is flooded.”

Speaking to The Echo, Mr McCarthy said: “There’s rats, there’s water coming in through the ceiling, there’s leaks.

“The drains around the estate are completely blocked, so the flooding recently caused a lot of problems around here. People’s kitchens were completely flooded in an area where there really shouldn’t be any flooding, so that’s why we’re here ... the council have to come up here, look these people in the face, and they’ve to answer for that.”

William O’Brien, community activist and chairman of the Noonan’s Road residents’ committee, who was also in attendance, described the issues residents are living in as “harrowing”.

Sinn Féin councillors Mick Nugent and Kenneth Collins said they would be following up with Cork City Council on what maintenance works were carried out, as part of the €1.1m put aside for the estate in 2018.

“That was significant funding set aside, but we just need to see what was done,” Mr Nugent said. “It would have addressed issues for some residents in the estate, but we do have it on our radar to follow up and see exactly what was covered in the funding that was allocated.”