Kilrush house of despair

A KILRUSH woman is demanding that the local town council either re-house her and her three children or repair the squalid house they live in, which is located in the John Paul Estate in the town. The two-storey house is the only one in its row in Beech Park that isn’t boarded up, as Adrienne Simmons’ neighbours have all been moved to new houses elsewhere in the estate as part of the €5,121,600 John Paul Estate Regeneration Programme.

The house is in a serious state of disrepair, with doors missing, cracks apparent in the kitchen wall, press doors falling off their hinges, the bathroom being in a poor state, the children’s bedroom window not closing and rats populating the decrepit back garden.
When contacted for a comment, Kilrush Town Council said that they do not comment on individual tenancies.
Ms Simmons, who is in poor health, said that she pays €60 per week to live in the house with three children aged 11 to 14. While she admits that she owes rental arrears, she maintains that the house must be either repaired or the family should be moved.
“I think I should get a new house. I deserve it like the rest of them got,” she said when interviewed by The Clare Champion in her house on Monday.
“There was a man here today (from Kilrush Town Council) looking around. He said he would go back up (to the town council offices) and tell what is to be done. ‘You might get it done,’ he said. I said ‘what do you mean, I might? I have to get something done’,” she added.
“You’d be turning your back there and them things would fall down on the back of your head. It often happened to us. You’d nearly get a heart attack with the fright,” Ms Simmons claimed about her kitchen.
The three children share an upstairs bedroom where it is impossible to close the window. “The room is freezing. I told the council that,” she stated.
She said she has been in discussion with Kilrush Town Council but that no progress has been made so far.
“I called in there last week. Still nothing for definite. ‘We’ll discuss this, we’ll discuss that’ they told me. My health is very bad. I have a cancerous growth in my throat. I have other problems then with my chest and I’m on morphine tablets. It’s depressing looking at it,” she said of the house.
“If I had my way, I’d rather be out of the estate health-wise. I’d be closer to the town. I’m always looking for lifts. With the health being bad, my walk is bad. But I would stay here if they would just do a proper job on it, like they promised me. They gave them all new houses over in the square,” Ms Simmons noted.
She is unable to explain why she was not moved from her house at the time that her neighbours were re-housed.
“I don’t know why,” she replied, saying that the €60 rent is taken from her disability allowance and that she and the children live on €220 per week.
She regularly sees rats roaming in the back garden, having entered from the adjoining vacant, boarded-up houses.
“It’s full of them. I was only opening the back door today and there were rats climbing up the garden wall. I wasn’t long running in and I forgot about my bad leg. They’re terrible things, rats,” she said.
Another house in Beech Park will be available in mid-November but Ms Simmons has been told that there is a waiting list of between 30 and 40 people for it.
Ms Simmons’ daughter Joanne Carrig, who lives in O’Gorman Street, is adamant that her mother deserves to live in a more habitable house.
“She’s not well and she doesn’t deserve to be living in a house like this; not in this day and age. There are certain health and safety standards that the council have brought in themselves.
“There is supposed to be adequate heating and the house is supposed to be safe for kids. This isn’t a safe house for children or for my mother,” Ms Carrig stated.
“I think it’s disgraceful. All her neighbours got new houses and she’s the only one that’s left in the block. There’s five houses in this area that are boarded up. If other people get these transfers, why not her?” she queried.
Ms Carrig has contacted the Ombudsman in an effort to highlight the situation.
“I emailed the Ombudsman for the transfer for my mother. I explained the situation, that she was in bad health and she needed a bit of comfort with the three kids. I just basically gave them the outline of it and I’m just waiting for a reply,” she explained.

Council won’t comment on single cases

WHEN contacted by The Clare Champion regarding the condition of the house that Adrienne Simmons and her children live in, Kilrush Town Council said that they could not comment on individual cases.
However, the council pointed said they have spent more than €5million to date on regeneration works in John Paul Estate.
“It is the policy of Kilrush Town Council not to comment on any individual tenant or any aspect of any individual tenancy agreement,” the statement read.  
The council added that much of the responsibility for the upkeep of a council house lies with the tenant. “Under Kilrush Town Council’s tenancy management policy, tenants are fully responsible for keeping the dwelling and every part thereof, including the garden, in a clean and proper state and shall not allow any refuse or offensive matter to accumulate in any portion thereof.
“The tenant is further obliged to ensure that satisfactory and acceptable arrangements for waste disposal are in place, in respect of the premises, to ensure that the house and garden are maintained to a high standard.
“Tenants are also fully responsible for all internal decoration and for any breakage of glass and any damage to fixtures, fittings or the structure of the dwelling and for the proper maintenance of fences and of the garden and shall cause to be made good any damage or breakage without delay,” the statement added.
It also noted that Kilrush Town Council has spent  €5,121,600 to date on preliminary works and phase one of the remedial works in John Paul Estate. It stated that the council is fully committed to a continuation of further phases of remedial works in the estate and plans are presently at a very advanced stage of negotiation with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government for phase two and future phases of works in the estate.
“Kilrush Town Council, as well as investing substantially in the physical infrastructure in John Paul Estate, is also investing in the social infrastructure and are a very committed lead partner of the multi-agency group, including Clare Youth Service, local gardaí, Clare Local Development Company, MABS, Parent Support Programme and a local health nurse.
“This approach has been very successful in working, particularly among the young people, to improve the quality of life for all residents and to promote opportunities for employment, training and education,” the statement concluded.