FURIOUS residents in one of Ireland’s worst housing estates are suffering a living nightmare as they battle serious safety concerns in homes plagued with mould and damp, raging: “It’s more like a prison than a home.”
The devastated community, based in Sallynoggin, in south Dublin, took the streets to demand action from the council against their horror reality, with the mould in some of the flats and homes “so bad you can taste it”.
Families are experiencing mental and physical health issues from living in maisonette flats and houses riddled with wet walls, black mould and collapsing ceilings.
And the gaffs are also at risk of rodents, residents fear, as they called on council chiefs to “condemn the maisonettes”.
Suffering locals mounted a major protest outside Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council offices, calling on them to fix the issues for the sake of young children and elderly family members enduring the difficult conditions.
Mum-of-two Katie Byrne last month told how her children are “constantly sick” due to the extreme damp and persistent mould in their home.
And mum-of-three Kim Joyce revealed her son Calvin, 10, was diagnosed with pneumonia when he was just nine-years-old, as a result of their living conditions.
And Kim lifted the lid on how her autistic daughter Romi, six, who is non-verbal, has been robbed of a safe and healthy environment to grow up in.
The 31-year-old, also mum to four-year-old Alan, pays €70 a month for a three-bedroom house – but has been forced to avoid using the largest bedroom in her home because “the mould is so bad you can taste it”.
Kim told the Irish Sun: “Two years ago I got given one of the maisonettes in Sallynoggin, I was given this on medical priority for my daughter, she’s autistic non-verbal.
“Basically the whole place is mouldy. I’m paying rent for a three-bedroom house but I can’t use one room.
“We need a bigger home. We need no mould. We’re all in the house together and I can’t use one room, because the mould is so bad you can taste it.”
And Kim said she has agonising fears for her kids, especially Romi who doesn’t fully understand how dangerous the mould is.
She said: “I don’t understand how they even put us in here. I obviously have to clean the mould, but because Romi has autism she doesn’t understand, so she actually goes over sniffing and licking the mould on the wall.
“My son actually got pneumonia, and doctors said they’d never seen a case of it in a nine-year-old. And he wasn’t anywhere else, only in the house, so it’s definitely the house that gave it to him.
“I spoke to the council and they told me that I need one more vent in the house, I need to open my windows, and maybe they might give me one more vent.”
Kim also explained how that the situation had taken a toll on her family’s mental and physical health, leading to her children missing school.
DETRIMENTAL FOR KIDS
And she said the situation is particularly difficult for little Romi.
She said: “It’s absolutely disgraceful. I’ve three children. Romi needs to be in a house where there’s not someone on top of you. The only way she can communicate is by screaming.
“It’s been absolutely detrimental. Since we moved in we’ve been sick.
“I’ve had bronchitis four or five times in two years, my son has suffered the most because he contracted pneumonia.
“And the doctor said it has to be down to the house because he’s never seen a nine-year-old child contract pneumonia and he doesn’t have any health problems.
“You walk into this room and you can taste the mould, never mind smell it. The room I can’t use is the biggest bedroom.
“We’re always sick, my sons have missed so many days of school.
“They’re putting families in here just to get them off the lists, but we’re left here and we’re all getting illnesses.”
“All I’m asking for is a safe house with no mould, but I don’t know where to go from here.”
Fellow resident Katie Byrne lives in a damp-infested maisonette flat with her children Callie May, 10, five-year-old Caine and her partner Brian.
The 32-year-old pays €100 per week and compared living in the property to residing in “a prison”.
HEALTH HELL
She explained: “Recently my son has been discharged out of Tallaght Hospital with a fungal infection in his eye.
“In A&E we showed them the pictures of the damp and the mould in the room that my son sleeps in and they have reason to believe that’s why his eye was so badly infected.
“My daughter has had 16 perforated eardrums in the last two years due to the damp and the mould.
“We have a moisture reader at home and we’ve high readings of moisture in the rooms. She’s actually in Crumlin Hospital on Monday to see about her ears.
“She’s had three operations during the Easter break, I had pneumonia last winter, my partner has had pneumonia, it’s just non-stop getting sick all the time, and it’s all down to the flats.”
WHAT EFFECT CAN MOULD HAVE ON HEALTH?
WHEN it manifests, damp is dangerous for our health.
It can cause respiratory illnesses, allergies and asthma as the fungus spores are released in their thousands into the atmosphere.
Common ailments are sneezing, a runny nose, red eyes and skin rashes, but moulds can also affect the immune system and trigger more serious problems.
At first, mould toxins may not cause any harm at low levels. But if they are consistently in the air, it starts to cause side effects.
People who live in homes with mould are more likely to:
- Have respiratory problems
- Respiratory infections
- Allergies
- Asthma, including asthma attacks
- Problems with the immune system
Babies and young children are at particular risk of health effects from mould.
Those with respiratory conditions, such as asthma and certain allergies, tend to be worse affected, as are people with skin conditions, such as atopic eczema, and those with weakened immune systems.
The concerned mum is convinced that the numerous health issues her family has faced are due to their living situation.
She continued: “It’s the mould and damp – it’s in the furniture, it’s in the beds, it’s in the mattresses, it’s in everything; the clothes, the shoes. I’m constantly throwing out things all the time.
“It’s having a huge impact on my partner’s and my own mental health at the moment because we’re doing everything as parents to get everything in order and make sure our kids are safe, but we can’t protect them from it.
“They can’t have their little friends in to play, we can’t have sleepovers, we can’t have birthday parties, we can’t have people in the house.
“It’s taking over our lives now. All these reports have been sent to Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and they’ve been filed.”
“We need a bigger home. We need no mould. We’re all in the house together and I can’t use one room, because the mould is so bad you can taste it.”
Kim Joyce
The HSE’s multi-disciplinary team working with Katie’s son wrote to the council, citing mould and damp, anti-social behaviour, fire safety concerns and rats as difficulties facing the family in their current home.
Katie and Kim said they have been left with no other option but to take to the streets in protest of the grim conditions.
Katie begged: “Just condemn the maisonettes, they’re too horrible to stay in. And the houses as well, there’s no insulation, they’re freezing cold, I’m spending the guts of €60 to €100 in gas a week in the winter time.
“I’d actually class it as a prison sentence, because you go in and it’s not a family home; it’s nothing, it’s just where we lay our heads at night.
“We’ve actually seen ivy growing in my children’s room.”
DREAMS DASHED
Katie had been working as a betting assistant and studying full-time to be a social worker but was forced to give up both to care for her family.
She explained: “I had to give up my job because I was missing too much work due to my children being too sick.
“I had to give up full-time education last year for the same thing.
“We can’t sit down at a kitchen table, they have to do their homework on the floor. In the winter I bring them down to the library to do their homework.
“The blockage in the piping system from the toilet is coming up out of the ground, we’ve a rat infestation in the back garden, the council just don’t care.”
Sisters Sophie and Jade Tallant told how growing up in the conditions is “embarrassing” – and said another sibling left the country due to the situation.
‘FIGHTING FOR YEARS’
The 33-year-old and 26-year-old sister have lived in a house in the Pearse area of Sallynoggin for 31 years with their mother Clodagh.
Childcare worker Sophie said: “When we first moved in the council built us an extension.
“We’ve had years of mould, damp, ceilings in the bathroom crumbling. One time part of the corner of the bathroom ceiling fell out and they came to fix it but it fell out again and we realised that they had stuffed it with newspaper and just plastered over it.
“Our front door, there are holes around where they haven’t fitted the door properly, you can nearly put your hand through to the garden.
“We were fighting for years and years to get the damp sorted, there was water running down the walls, you’d wake up in the morning and there’d be water on the window ledge.
“We’d ring them about it – all the damp and mould – and every time we were told, open your windows and get dehumidifiers.
“But it’s gone past that, the windows are open day and night, we fought for years and years but nothing.
“The extension was so bad that my sister had to move out because she couldn’t sleep in the bedroom.
“She had to move out for months at a time in winter because you could see your breath even when the heating was on.”
QUICK FIXES FAILING
The sisters told how their health has also been impacted and they’re constantly forced to throw our household items destroyed by damp.
Sophie added: “We were constantly getting chest infections, the flu, at one stage my bedroom was so bad that a pillow fell down by the wall and when I took it up the next morning it was soaking.
“It’s been years and years of having to throw stuff out, having to get new furniture because the council’s quick fix is don’t put things against the wall and get a dehumidifier.
“But our flats are so small I don’t know where they think we’re supposed to put our furniture.
“They constantly pass blame onto the tenants. Everything you tell them it’s just we don’t fix that. They tell my mam to look in the handbook, the handbook hasn’t changed in 31 years, so it’s old fashioned.”
‘EMBARRASSING’
Jade added: “The only right word for it is embarrassing, you cant even bring work friends over for a barbecue.
“It’s only a dream to own your own home now because they’re too expensive and you can’t get your hands on one.
“You’re embarrassed to bring your friends home in case they walk into the wrong room, you’re afraid to let a colleague drop you home because of the ridiculous condition you live in, it’s embarrassing and it’s cruel.
“You’re not only battling trying to live in a mould-infested area, you’re putting all your earnings into trying to make your house a home. I paint my room and you’re buying paint every two months to cover up the mould.”
“In A&E we showed them the pictures of the damp and the mould in the room that my son sleeps in and they have reason to believe that’s why his eye was so badly infected.”
Katie Byrne
And Sophie said the time for action is now as the living conditions are negatively impacting so many people.
She fumed: “It’s a health hazard not a home.
“Our grandmother has been on full-time oxygen for the last ten years. We can’t allow her to come to the house for long periods of time because it’s not good for her lungs, so she’s missing out.
“They can’t ignore us any longer, there’s too many kids getting sick, there’s too many elderly people sick, we’ve been pawned off for too long and it’s time for them to do something.”
Community Action Tenants Union committee member Fiadh Tubridy attended the protest to show solidarity with the residents.
HOUSING DEMANDS
She said: “At a national level our demands include calling for much more investment in maintaining existing stock as well as massive expansion in building new public housing to solve the housing crisis.
“People are calling for more investment in maintenance, specifically access to funding for retrofitting, replacing windows and doors. Residents in Sallynoggin are just saying they should be making progress with upgrading our homes which haven’t been upgraded for years.
“We will be continuing this campaign and trying to put pressure on the council until the issues are addressed.
“Most immediately we’re calling for a series of very clear demands, including housing tenants who are in the maisonettes in appropriate alternative housing.
“And in the houses, that there’s appropriate investment in windows, doors, and replacements.
“Most immediately we’re calling for a meeting with senior management of the council – between us as the union, the residents, and senior management – so residents can speak on the issues they’re facing.”
A Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council spokesperson said: “Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is currently progressing a redevelopment plan for selected properties within Pearse Estate.
“We have engaged with tenants on an individual basis where issues have arisen in their properties and inspections on these units have been carried out.
“Tenants have been identified for transfer to alternative accommodation, some of these transfers have already taken place and further transfers are in progress.
“We are continuing working with the tenants in this area and facilitating transfers where possible.”
