“I can’t remember the last time that my child wasn’t congested or didn’t have a cough or could breathe easily at night,” Cromcastle Court resident Teegan Clarke said. “The doctor says it’s all down to mould exposure.”
Ms Clarke is hoping her three-year-old daughter will not remember her time spent in the flats in Kilmore, north Dublin.
She cannot recall a time since her daughter was born that she did not have a chest infection. Ms Clarke’s own mother, Rachel Clarke, has been in hospital twice with pleurisy due to the damp and mould in the home the three of them share.
Teegan and Rachel Clarke were among about 30 residents of the complex who marched in protest to the Dublin City Council offices in Coolock on Thursday to demand “safe and healthy homes”.
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Supported by the Community Action Tenants Union (CATU), residents handed over a letter asking for priority transfers to more suitable homes, for maintenance issues to be addressed and for a timeline on both to be provided. No one from the council came to speak to the residents.
The Cromcastle Court complex is made up of eight blocks, comprising 128 homes, and was built by the council in 1971.
A proposal to regenerate the estate was granted planning permission in 2009, but never happened. Instead, between 2015 and 2019, energy upgrades were made including installing thermostats in flats and wrapping external walls with insulation.
However in 2018 serious structural issues were found after residents reported cracks and movements to the communal staircase that appeared to be coming away from the wall.
Following this, residents in three of the eight blocks were rehoused. Those blocks remain vacant.
In 2019 the council published plans for another regeneration project, but these have not yet been lodged for planning permission. The latest completion date given by the council is 2029.
In the meantime, residents are living in increasingly dilapidated surroundings.
There are reports of mice and rat infestations, a lack of hot water, electricity outages, uncollected rubbish, broken windows and rusting stairwells.
When The Irish Times visited on Thursday, it found corroded bannisters, mould on walls, broken showers, exposed electrical wires and evidence of squatters in the bin shelter, meaning rubbish was not being collected from one of the blocks.
Rachel and Teegan Clarke and Teegan’s daughter are one of just three remaining households living in block five of the complex.
They said there have been four fires there in the last two years, with the last one causing the electricity cabling to explode, resulting in no hot water, heating or power for six weeks.
The council has asked them to leave their rubbish outside rather than down the bin chute, which is clogged up, as a homeless person is squatting downstairs in the bin shelter.
They talk of extensive mould and leaks in their flat, broken windows and mice and silverfish infestation.
“I’ve always had great memories as a child in these flats and it feels like it’s just being tarnished now with the standard that they’re letting the flats get to. It’s like we’ve just been forgotten about,” Teegan Clarke said.
Speaking at the flats complex on Thursday, Social Democrats Councillor Jesslyn Henry said: “The big problem here is that no maintenance work is being done.
“All the hand rails going up the stairs are completely eroded away. Children are literally slicing their hands on them.
“You can see holes in the ceilings where rain is coming through. There’s leaks. They’ve had no hot water for the past 12 days. Their heating is gone.
“Enough is enough for these residents. They just want their human rights met and a safe home to live in.”
Dublin City Council has previously said it was “aware of the challenges faced by residents” and has carried out works to existing homes there.
