“Our homes are destroyed with mould and damp, and we’re literally getting sick because of it,” Natasha O’Keeffe, who has lived in Oliver Bond House all her life, said on Tuesday after new research was published showing residents of the flats complex are 2.4 times as likely to have asthma as other patients in their area.
“I have respiratory problems. I suffer with my breathing, and so does my daughter and my grandchild. The little one is only 20 months old so it’s harder to diagnose. But me and my daughter use inhalers and can’t be without steroids,” O’Keeffe said.
Some 83 per cent of residents in Oliver Bond House are living with mould and damp, while 74 per cent have draughts or poor insulation and cannot keep their homes warm.
In the nearly 83 years that the 14-block complex has existed, only one regeneration has been completed.
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[ Oliver Bond House residents more than twice as likely to have asthmaOpens in new window ]
New research by Trinity College Dublin’s School of Medicine shows that residents of Oliver Bond have higher recorded levels of asthma than others living locally.
Evidence of asthma was present in 18 per cent of Oliver Bond House residents compared with 8 per cent of patients seen by local GPs.
“We’re fighting for regeneration for years now, but the estimates are 15 to 20 years,” O’Keeffe told The Irish Times.
“Our clothes smell from being in the wardrobe with mould. It was covered up with things like paint, which looks brilliant on the day, but then the mould just starts to come back through. They need to get to the root of the problem,” she added.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said the Government will be looking at the research by Trinity’s school of medicine and responding to it.
“We have to make sure that wherever people are, be they in private accommodation or in public housing, it shouldn’t matter,” he said on Tuesday.
Labour’s Senator Rebecca Moynihan and Cllr Darragh Moriarty called on the Government to “urgently address” the conditions at Oliver Bond House.
“This latest report shows how damaging poor housing conditions can be for the health outcomes of some of our most vulnerable and marginalised social housing tenants,” Senator Moynihan said.
“The Government is trumpeting over shiny new developments and at the same time presiding over existing dilapidated social housing in urgent need of regeneration,” she said.
Cllr Moriarty, who sits on the Oliver Bond Regeneration Board, described the findings of the research as “truly shocking and stark”.
Responding to a request for comment , Dublin City Council said the redevelopment of Oliver Bond House was “a priority for Dublin City Council”.
As part of the redevelopment of the existing homes, all homes will receive thermal upgrades to include both external and internal insulation, controlled ventilation and heat pumps, while their sizes will be increased to meet the current space standards, the council said.
“These interventions will provide spacious, warm, dry and healthy homes,” the statement said.
The council has received Stage 1 funding and project approval from the Department of Housing and will lead a consultant design team on developing the design ahead of submitting a Part 8 planning application.
In the interim, the council said it would be “undertaking works to improve living conditions of the residents as well as the structure of the complex”.
“The city council is very aware that our ageing stock needs to be modernised,” the statement said.
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