A Letterkenny Sinn Féin councillor says that social housing tenants are suffering horrendous conditions in decaying defective homes as the government ‘dilly-dallies’ on a remediation scheme.
Local election candidate Cllr Gerry McMonagle recently met with a local mother Kelly at Glendale Drive, whose 15-year-old son has serious chest problems.
Asthma has been ruled out, and it’s believed that black mould exposure and dust are the primary cause of the teen’s illness.
Kelly has been travelling to Crumlin Children’s Hospital in Dublin regularly in the search for answers. Her son now has to use a nebulizer, inhalers and is on constant medication.
“He’s up and down to Dublin all the time, getting blood tests and tablets. He shouldn’t be on tablets at 15 because of his chest,” Kelly says.
Kelly, feeling as though she is being neglected, is growing more and more concerned while waiting on remediation to be carried out by Donegal County Council. The council has been trying to get approval to remediate social homes affected by deleterious materials since 2021.
Donegal has a further 69 properties lying vacant that are affected by defective concrete blocks. The council is awaiting the new Social Housing Remediation Scheme to bring these units back into use.
Cllr Gerry McMonagle and his party Sinn Féin are calling on the government to urgently pass the regulations to allow Donegal County Council to implement the scheme and start fixing social homes.
He says that no one should be forced to live in these conditions.
“The regulations for the remediation scheme for social housing has yet to be passed by the government, despite being published in December last year,” he said.
Cllr McMonagle is making a real and accessible 100% redress scheme for defective block homeowners and social tenants a priority as he seeks re-election in the Letterkenny Municipal District on 7th June.
Get in touch:
Tel: 0860637990
Email: gerrymcmonagle@donegalcoco.ie
