Cork council tenant says she woke to find rat droppings on her pillow

A Cork City Council tenant who says her council home is infested with rats, has been treated in hospital after waking up to find rodent droppings on her pillow.

Last November, Dorothy (not her real name) revealed the appalling conditions in her home in the dilapidated Togher Rd social housing flats, which she shares with her four young children.

The 60-year old flat had always been extremely cold, she told The Echo, with black mould on the windowsills and damp on the walls, but it was only in the previous year that it had become infested with rats.

Dorothy said the rodents swim up through the toilet bowl and get in through the airing cupboard, scratching across the ceilings and leaving droppings on the floor.

Deeply concerned

In a letter to Cork City Council — seen by The Echo — Dorothy’s doctor said she was “deeply concerned” for Dorothy’s family and described their home as “rodent infested and covered in damp/mould which appears to be an environmental and health hazard”.

“All family members have skin (infections) which are resistant to treatment,” the letter added.

Dorothy told The Echo she woke up on Easter Sunday morning to find the rat droppings on her pillow, and her eye swollen shut.

“My vision went completely in that eye, and when I went to hospital they told me my blood pressure was jumping up and down, and my fingertips all went cold and numb.”

She said she was given “massive doses of antibiotics”, before she had to return to the flat.

“There was rat droppings on the microwave and on the kettle, and I brushed the carpet on the stairs and loads of coarse grey hair came out of it — not human hair,” she said.

“The doctors told me I’ve gone from being a very healthy person a year ago to now having sores on my arms and legs that just won’t heal.”

Rehoused

Dorothy said she was told more than a month ago she would be temporarily rehoused while the council would fix her home, but says she has heard no more.

She also claims that pest control has told her the rodent infestation is so bad in her home, that they will be unable to address it.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, Sinn Féin TD for Cork South Central, said no council tenant should have to deal with rodents.

“I think most people when they imagine rats in their home, it makes their skin crawl. It is very serious indeed that a council tenant has fallen ill potentially because of exposure to rats,” he said.

Mr Ó Laoghaire said he had been appealing to the council “for months now” that Dorothy and her family be rehoused.

“That needs to happen – but we also need to have a solution for the entire block, they need to get in now and eliminate the rodent problem,” he said.

“In the medium term, we need a solution for the flats as a whole, there is a clear need for regeneration. But first of all, this tenant needs to be looked after, it is appalling that this could happen in this day and age.”

Disgrace

Housing activist William O’Brien said it was “a disgrace” that a mother and her children were being forced to battle for a home free of rodents and damp. “It’s nothing short of a complete failure by Cork City Council in its duties to its tenants,” he said.

A spokesperson said Cork City Council had carried out “major works” to Dorothy’s home over the past 12 months, and it continued to engage with her about “pest control, minor maintenance issues and the upkeep of the property by the tenant”.

The council spokesperson added that the council was currently “addressing rodent activity” in the Togher flats “through a multi-disciplinary approach”.

“This includes pest-control provision through a specialist treatment contractor, addressing of dumping, and working to address overgrowth in gardens,” they said.

They added that the Togher Road flats are of significant age, and “presenting with maintenance works that are to be expected in properties of this nature”.