The builder and not the Town Council should fix any problems that exist at the Lissore housing estate in Fermoy, Cllr Olive Corcoran said this week.

Remedial works to address a problem with dampness in houses at the local authority estate have been sanctioned with funding of €20,000 set aside in this year’s town council budget for the works and another €20,000 to be allocated next year.

The 13 houses are among the town council’s newest housing stock. Following complaints from residents about damp, an engineer inspected the houses. In a report he blamed ‘a lack of understanding of how to ventilate a house’ and ‘fuel poverty’ as the reasons for the dampness. That report was rejected by councillors who felt the works were warranted. There was one dissenter, Cllr Pa O’Driscoll who said when the matter was discussed last year, it was felt that to do the work would be to ignore the findings of the report.

Cllr Corcoran says that, if there is a problem, the bulder should fix it, given that the houses aren’t that old. “Who signed off on the houses?” she asked this week. She didn’t think it was fair to blame tenants for the problem. “I don’t open my windows myself in my home from September to March and my house isn’t damp,” she pointed out.

She feels strongly however that the money allocated to fix the damp problem in Lissore could be better spent on older council houses in the town which urgently need upgrading and repairs.

“Many people have been renting for years, paying good money to the council. Their houses are in need of repairs but we’re continually being told there’s no money in the housing maintenance budget,” she said. The councillor gave an example of one family who are paying well over €100 a week in rent as family members are working, and have done so for many years. “Their house is well maintained. They’ve never asked the council for anything. Now when they urgently need repairs they’re being told there’s no money and they’re left waiting.”