RESIDENTS OF A Dublin City Council housing complex are being denied the basic international right of a home, such is the poor condition of their accommodation, the Irish Human Rights Commission has claimed.
IHRC president Dr Maurice Manning said this lunchtime that the rights of the resident of Dolphin House were “clearly being breached” by the standard of the accommodation.
Almost half of the residents of Dolphin House, in the south inner city, have respiratory problems due to the conditions of their homes, which residents say have a constant stink of sewage.
The Irish Times cites analysis carried out by biologists from NUI Maynooth, who found the presence of the Aspergillus fumigatus fungus – a regular cause of pulmonary disease in humans.
The IHRC’s declaration came after the residents of the complex released a survey which found significant dampness problems in three-quarters of flats, while an astonishing 84 per cent said sewerage would regularly rise back up through plugholes in their sinks and baths.
Professor Lorna Fox O’Mahony of Durham Law School told RTÉ Radio 1 that residents had set performance indicators about the state of their housing at an initial meeting ten months ago – and that the conditions had since gotten worse in some areas.
“One of the very clear messages from the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is that there must not be regression in realising these rights [to adequate housing],” Fox O’Mahony said.
Dublin City Council did not attend this afternoon’s meeting. Housing minister Willie Penrose told RTÉ that while the matter was first meant for Dublin City Council, he would be raising the matter with the council himself.
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