Mother pleads with Cork City Council to tackle mould in her home

Sam Barry with the dampness at her home at Elderwood Drive, Boreenmanna Road. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Black mould started to creep along the walls before asthmatic Sam Barry saw mushrooms growing on the ceiling of her home.

The damp in her apartment on Boreenmanna Rd in Cork became so bad that the plaster started to disintegrate and fall off.

The immunosuppressed and asthmatic 32-year-old mum says her breathing has been affected and her steroid inhaler dose was increased by her doctor since the damp started to seriously infest her house in October.

Her son, 12, who is also asthmatic, now stays in his room, avoiding the main living area where the damp is worst.

The front door is rotting off its hinges, she said, and her own bedroom, which she has shared with her five-year-old daughter since she was born as they wait for a larger home, has a damp patch on the ceiling and a hole in the wall where the plaster has started to crumble and the skirting boards have rotted and warped.

Green mould on the front door at the home of Sam Barry. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

She said that she has contacted the council many, many times.

Following the involvement of housing charity Threshold, Cork City Council made a list of repairs — but the problems have still not been fixed, Ms Barry said.

“I noticed water dripping onto the floor at the end of September," she said.

"The council came to look at it two weeks later but it wasn’t too bad at that point as I had tried to dry it up. But it quickly got worse. 

"By mid-October there were mushrooms growing on the walls, water was collecting on the floor and there were black spots on the walls. The wall is saturated and there’s rising damp too. 

“I have buckets down and dehumidifiers on most of the time.

"If this was a private rental I could get onto the RTB [Residential Tenancies Board]."

Ms Barry said that getting through to the council is difficult, as the line you call to log repairs keeps putting her through to a message service.

She said that she was forced to make her plight public in a desperate bid to get the council to pay attention.

Dampness at the home of Sam Barry. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

"The way I've been treated is very upsetting," she said.

Sean Dineen has also had problems getting his landlord, Kerry County Council, to address the damp in his home.

“There’s serious mould in the house," he said.

"Water seeps through the roof in the utility room when it rains, and there's rising damp.

“I have some respiratory problems and I know that mould can cause health problems.

“My clothes get damp and wet just sitting in the house.

“If I was renting from a private landlord, Kerry County Council would come and inspect the property and demand that a private landlord gets the property up to standard. But because they’re the landlords, they can do what they want." 

Sinn Féin spokesperson for housing, Eoin Ó Broin, said that council tenants often have nowhere to turn when they have problems with their accommodation and called for the RTB, the public body established to regulate the rental sector, to be extended to cover council tenants.

Currently, only private rentals, student accommodation, and Approved Housing Body (AHB) tenants can access the RTB. 

“It makes no sense to say that ... the single largest landlord in the State, which is the local authorities, that their tenants have an inferior set of rights," said Mr Ó Broin.

"Giving local authority tenants access to the Residential Tenancies Board and the protections under the Private Tenancies Act is crucial."

A spokesperson for Kerry County Council said that it does not comment publicly on individual cases.

"The council works closely with tenants and in a timely manner where essential repairs or enhancements to housing units are required," it stated.

A spokesperson for Cork City Council said: "Cork City Council does not discuss individual cases, however, the city council is satisfied that the housing section is taking all necessary measures in order to address any issues arising, and in particular issues that are the direct responsibility of Cork City Council."