Council: Elderly living in degrading conditions in Cork

A number of elderly and disabled people are living in totally inappropriate and degrading conditions because the Government is not providing enough money to adapt their homes.

That is according to members of Cork County Council who are demanding extra cash from the Department of the Environment to fast-track the likes of home extensions, stair lifts, and additional toilets to make life easier for such people.

Cllr John Paul O’Shea (Ind) acquired a report from council officials showing they had approved €2.7m worth of housing adaptation works for the elderly and disabled, but did not have anywhere near the funding required from the department to carry them out.

He said: “I personally know of two severe cases in the north Cork region where a housing adaptation is urgently required. One case is of an elderly lady, living alone, who, due to ill health, cannot access the stairs in her house. She has requested an adaptation to her house so she can have a downstairs toilet and bedroom. The application dates back over two years.

“This lady, today, still waits for this adaptation, using her sitting room as a bedroom and a commode chair as a toilet,” Mr O’Shea told colleagues on the Northern Division committee of the council.

“The other case is that of a married woman who in recent years has been diagnosed with MS and severe arthritis. She was a home help herself for a long number of years, assisting many older people to remain living independently in their own home. This lady now has two home helps calling to her caring for her during her illness. This lady is also requesting an adaptation to her house so she can have a bedroom downstairs. She is still awaiting this adaptation grant nearly four years later.”

Mr O’Shea noted that the report showed the council had only been given €360,000 towards the schemes last year. “You can appreciate that I have serious concerns that people seeking these adaptations will not get their housing adaptation grants this year either, especially if we get a similar allocation to last year,” he said.

He said despite the best efforts of council staff, they cannot access funding from the Department of the Environment, which he accused of obviously not addressing the problem.

Mr O’Shea received unanimous support from colleagues to write to the department seeking additional funding for housing adaptations and to allow more discretion to local authorities to dip into their annual housing allocations to address this serious issue.

Cllr Bernard Moynihan (FF) said this oversight would cost the State more in the long-run. “The population is ageing and it will get worse. There surely is a cost-benefit case for keeping people in their homes longer rather than having them go to nursing homes,” he said.

Meanwhile, it emerged that council tenants with mobility problems were having to wait far longer to get adaptation grants drawn down compared to people living in privately owned homes.

Cllr Gerard Murphy (FG) said this was very hard to explain to people and it should be addressed.

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