Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Every time I meet with Cork City Council officials, I always tell them that if there is anything they need me to raise or support in the Dáil, I will do so. Noonan Road is one such issue. The apartments on Noonan Road and houses in surrounding areas are in significant need of regeneration and retrofitting. There was a Department announcement two years ago that this was going to happen and tenants and residents were delighted. We are now going into 2022 and there is no retrofitting taking place.

Some of these apartments are in dire condition. A report published in 2019 stated that one of the homes had not had hot water for 38 years - not days, weeks, or months - such were the bad conditions in this properly. There are issues with mould, damp and leaks. There are obsolete electrical fittings. There are serious issues with housing and maintenance. People are contacting me about the conditions of their bathrooms and bedrooms. Yet, Cork City Council cannot access funding. The council states that it is trying to get funding but the Government will not provide it because it wants to retrofit and regenerate the area. That is not good enough.

Deputy Ó Laoghaire and I have to go back to Cork to meet these people who live in these conditions. What answer will we give them from the Minister of State? The Government is quick to state the amount of money and support it gives to local authorities, but here we have an area that has been crying out for years. This is a community that desperately needs to be supported. This scheme would make sense. We know the cost to people trying to heat their homes is phenomenal. The situation is that older people are without heating and trying to stay warm because they cannot afford the costs.

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