Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for her response. This is an area that needs to be addressed urgently. I know of a young woman with two children who moved into her house in Drimnagh in 2010, just after the BER rating system was introduced. Almost every week she has to wash down the walls on the ground floor of her house to remove mould. Her young children had to move out of the house over the Christmas period because it was in such a bad state. The response from the council has been to advise her to open windows, open vents and not to dry clothes indoors. She is doing all of that but the same thing keeps happening. She is caught in a bind because she cannot get a grant to insulate her home to prevent the dampness. She is getting no assistance from the council in this regard and has reached a point where she does not even consider it a home anymore. I know of another family who have been living in Pim Street in Pimlico for four years who have the same problem with mould. They are constantly wiping down the walls, using chemicals to remove the mould but it keeps returning. It is going onto their bedclothes, mattresses and is becoming a nightmare for them.

There is no recognition on the part of the local authorities that there is a problem. I contacted the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to see if there is a list of complaints made about mould but was told there was no list. There must be a list because complaints are being made every day of the week. The person in Pim Street to whom I referred has been making complaints for the last two years. There is something wrong somewhere.

A root and branch analysis is required to identify where the problems are and then they should be addressed. Next year is too long to wait for some people. Is there some way, in the short term, that tenants can access grants?

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