"Ferndale Tenant's Being Failed By Wexford County Council" - Gary O'Brien
Éirígí For A New Republic spokesperson Gary O’Brien has hit out at Wexford County Council over their failure to properly maintain public housing in Ferndale in Wexford. Speaking from the town he said,
“In recent days the case of Diane Kelly has rightly received a lot of attention in the Wexford People newspaper and on social media. After almost seven years on the housing list, Diane and her daughter were recently allocated a house in Ferndale. But instead of finding their dream home, they found a house of horrors.
Unacceptable condition of kitchen and back door of DIane Kelly’s new home (photo courtesy of The Wexford People)
Their new home had holes in the fascia and internal walls, substandard flooring and mold growing on the walls, as well as windows and doors that had not been properly maintained over the years.
Diane Kelly’s case is not unique. I know of another family that were allocated a house in a similarly poor condition in Ferndale in the last fortnight - a family that included a very young baby.
It isn’t just new tenants in Ferndale that are being failed by the council. Existing tenants are routinely left waiting for far too long for basic repairs and maintenance. If a private landlord behaved in this way, they would be called out as a slumlord.
The attitude of Wexford County Council towards their tenants reflects the wider attitude of a state which sees public housing and the people that live in it as a headache and a financial burden. This is just not good enough.
I’m calling on Wexford Council to get their act together in relation to Ferndale and all their properties across the county. As a landlord they have a responsibility to respect their tenants and properly maintain all of their housing stock. The days of council tenants being treated as second class citizens need to brought to an end.”
Gary O’Brien pictured distributing Éirígí UP Housing leaflets in Wexford Town in late 2019.