Three years on residents of Cork estate say mould and rodent issues still not addressed

Three years after Cork City Council promised to address mould, damp, and rodent infestation in a northside estate, residents say the problems remain unresolved.

In September 2023, the council gave a commitment to meet residents of Glentrasna in The Glen after a public protest and several reports in The Echo highlighting their plight.

The estate consists of 95 houses, most of which are social housing homes, and the majority of which were built between 2005 and 2010.

Despite being a relatively new estate, its tenants say that leaks, damp, and rodents are recurring problems, and they claim Cork City Council has done little to address those problems.

Three years ago, tenants raised those issues with the council, and at the time, Thomas Gould, Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, controversially accused the council executive of not giving “a s**t about people in social housing or working-class people”.

Met with residents

The council’s then director of services for housing subsequently met with the residents, and some works were carried out in the estate, but residents claim those works were never completed.

Christa Saunders, who three years ago helped to found the estate’s residents’ association, and who ran for Sinn Féin in the 2024 local elections, said residents are in the same position they were before, with some “unfortunately, worse off”.

“Same issues as before — mould, leaks, with several people reporting the exact same problem, a leak in the upstairs bathroom, leaking down into the downstairs bathroom and into the trip-switch box,” Ms Saunders said.

“I’ve had the fire brigade up, and a neighbour has too, and people are just feeling fed up and feeling forgotten, and they’re feeling that promises that were made were not held up.”

Mr Gould said he had spoken with residents and he felt their maintenance issues had not been fully resolved.

“They were made huge promises and, while some work was carried out, this wasn’t done to the level they were promised,” he said.

“They are still dealing with mould and damp, with leaks and rodents.”

He added that central Government needed to adequately fund councils’ maintenance budgets.

Maintenance requests logged

There had been 1,125 maintenance requests logged with city council since 2021, Mr Gould added, noting that with 95 homes in the estate, there had not been a single 12-month year when there had been fewer complaints than homes.

A council spokesperson said the council receives an average of two maintenance requests per property in Glentrasna annually, adding: “This is not unusual for the maintenance of city council housing”.