Black mould and rats a hazard for tenants in the South West Inner City

Toxic black mould and rat infestations are just some of the hazardous conditions that tenants of some of Dublin’s South West Inner City Flat complexes have to live with.

This is according to Aontú’s Aisling Considine who is standing in the Dublin South West Inner City  LEA, and also standing in the Dublin Constituency for the European Elections.

She said tenants have told her that Dublin City Council is either not responding to them or taking months to respond.

“The state of some of these flat complexes is truly shocking,” Considine said.

“I have been going door to door and I have met scores of families living in totally unacceptable conditions.

“These include mould growing out of walls, covering the walls and ceilings- damp right back to the brick, rat infestations and leakages that are being allowed to develop into problematic leakages due to inaction by Dublin City Council.

“The council is not stepping in and not maintaining people’s homes properly which is unconscionable.

“In the Emmet flats I saw a tenant covering pipes in a last desperate attempt to stop rats crawling in.

“This is a serious human rights issue as toxic black mould and vermin are incredibly harmful for people.

“I’ve met women trying to raise their families, their children are suffering with respiratory issues.

“Elderly people are on inhalers and suffering various respiratory complaints.

“They say that Dublin City Council is either not responding to their concerns or takes months to respond.

“Tenants allege that the council has refused to remove toxic black mould growing in the flats, telling residents to wipe it with bleach.

“The problem with this is that the mould comes back very quickly, and lingers in the walls, unseen, but releasing the toxic spores into the air.

“When you visit the various corporation flat complexes across the city and see the same problems over and over again you realise that the buildings are long past their sell by date, they’re impossible to keep warm, poorly insulated and ventilated.

“Some retrospective ventilation work has taken place, but this has made little difference to the living conditions.

The council is also not taking responsibility for ensuring apartments are suitable for elderly residents.

“I’m going to be tackling it in my capacity as a local councillor, I think it’s serious enough to bring it all the way to Europe.

“We know that Dublin City Council has had to pay out large sums to numerous tenants and this is a wanton waste of taxpayers’ money.

“If they fixed the problems before they worsened, they would save both the stress and strain for tenants and taxpayers money.

“The council is believed to have paid €1,083,487 last year in settlements to tenants last year.

“Europe has funds, for example the Warmer Home Scheme, which is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) that could and should be used to prevent the issues with toxic black mould from arising in the first place.

“The funds are there for these things and the fact that our local councils can’t organise themselves to use them to actually improve the quality in people’s lives is both concerning and shocking in equal measure.”