Updated 23.08
A FORMER RESIDENT of the disastrous Priory Hall development has written to Taoiseach Enda Kenny asking him to intervene following the death of her partner.
Stephanie Meehan’s partner of 17 years, Fiachra Daly, took his own life last month. In her letter, Meehan describes the stress the couple and their two children were under as they dealt with the fall-out of being evacuated from their Dublin home almost two years ago.
She asks the Taoiseach to put an end to the limbo that residents have been left in as they are housed in temporary accommodation in the area – paid for by Dublin City Council – but their mortgage payments continue to fall due.
“I now have no home, my children have no permanent home, but most importantly, I have no partner and my children have lost their wonderful dad,” she writes.
“Our future, security and certainty changed the minute we were evacuated and not one thing has changed in two years, every email, phone call and letter seems to have fallen on deaf ears,” the letter says.
In the letter, Meehan writes movingly about the death of her partner. “We miss him terribly,” she writes. “My life will never be the same. My children’s lives will never be the same.”
The large complex in Donaghmede in Dublin has been sitting empty since it was evacuated on 17 October 2011 due to concerns over fire safety. Residents say their former homes have now deteriorated “beyond repair“.
The case is due to be heard in the Supreme Court in October when a decision will be made on whether Dublin City Council will have to continue paying the costs of the accommodation – or whether residents will have to pay it for themselves.
Enda Kenny briefly met with residents in April last year when they doorstepped him as he attended a jobs announcement, but said he could not talk to them properly until the Supreme Court ruling on who pays for the accommodation costs.
The letter in full:
Dear Enda,
I have emailed you on many occasions, regarding my situation in Priory hall. You have replied once.
On July 15th mine and my children’s lives changed forever, my beautiful, kind, caring Partner and father to my children took his own life. His name is Fiachra Daly. We miss him terribly.
My life will never be the same. My children’s lives will never be the same.Fiachra was the happiest man on earth, he lived for myself, Oisin (7) and Cerys (2), he never suffered from any form of mental illness or depression, we had been together for 17 years and I never once witnessed any signs.
That is up until the week prior to his death, when we received demands from banks, looking for payment of arrears on a property that we can’t live in, asking us to fill out, yet again, forms to request an extension of our moratorium, all for a property we can’t live in through no fault of our own. The stress, the worry of not being able to provide a safe home for us, his young children, eventually took its toll, as it has on every resident.
He was obviously a silent sufferer, he never complained, he supported me, when I was feeling low, he hated the idea that he couldn’t provide a safe home for us, that I do know, but I thought we’d battle through this together. How wrong was I?I now have no home, my children have no permanent home, but most importantly, I have no partner and my children have lost their wonderful dad.
Our future, security and certainty changed the minute we were evacuated and not one thing has changed in two years, every email, phone call, letter seems to have fallen on deaf ears.So I ask you, what will it take now for someone to listen and act on something that should’ve been dealt with two years ago and saved a lot of tax payers money and most of all saved a life?
Tom Mc Feely walks around scot free, he’ll never suffer how we are suffering, he’ll never lose what I’ve lost. He’ll start again, I am left with a lifetime of heartache and my children will inherit that too.
Is there any justice in this country?
I’ve lost Fiachra, but I’ve not lost my voice.
Stephanie Meehan
Letter via Support the Priory Hall Residents on Facebook
Originally published 19.52
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