Tenants in local authority housing fail to report antisocial behaviour ‘out of fear’

Residents in local authority housing are afraid to report their neighbours’ antisocial behaviour for fear of reprisals, members of the largest council in the country have claimed.

Cork Co Council moved to assure council house tenants the identity of all complainants who make submissions to the local authority will be kept confidential. The matter arose during yesterday’s meeting of the council, during which a draft copy of its antisocial behaviour strategy was circulated to members. Fine Gael councillor Deirdre Forde said the complaints she receives are split evenly from local authority and private housing estates.

“A lot of people are still afraid to make a complaint because often they have to live next door to the people they are complaining about,” she said. Cllr Forde recalled an incident where she made a complaint on behalf of a member of the public who was afraid to make a submission themselves, only for the subject of the complaint to contact Cllr Forde to ask why she had reported them to the council.