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A BLIND WOMAN waited almost eight years on Cork Council housing lists before a housing association eventually found her a suitable home.
Lisa O’Sullivan, who has 17 different health conditions including diabetes, osteoporosis, and a rare liver condition, said, “I felt like I was in limbo for so long that I had almost given up on a house. I was stressed out and that didn’t help my conditions”.
She added that she had 16 per cent eyesight when she began the search for a home eight years ago but that deteriorated by a further eight per cent because of the “stress” of waiting so long.
O’Sullivan isn’t alone. Almost 100,000 households are currently waiting for a home in Ireland as demand for local authority housing increased dramatically, up 75 per cent since 2008.
Her search for accommodation all began when she was living in rented accommodation in Cork city that had stairs. When she realised her health, eyesight and mobility were deteriorating she decided to apply for social housing.
O’Sullivan was offered other accommodation in Cork city centre, but again it had stairs and no lift, so it wasn’t suitable as her osteoporosis meant she was a fall risk.
“That really annoyed me,” she said. “I submitted all of this information to the council and they came back with a house with a stairs. I even had a note from doctors stating that I cannot climb stairs… It just meant that I had to wait even longer.”
The only accommodation she could find was a house in Dunmanway, west Cork, an area where she felt “lonely”, “had no friends” and was 50 kilometres away from her terminally ill mother who lived in Dripsey.
“I needed to be near to my mother when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer two years ago,” she explained. “It was hard living so far away from her because all I had was my mum and my brother. She died on 1 March this year, so now I just have my brother.”
Dunmanway was also too far from her hospital appointments and the National Council for the Blind of Ireland where O’Sullivan visits weekly.
After six months in Dunmanway, a frustrated O’Sullivan was told about Clúid, a housing association. After two interviews with them, she was offered a home in an apartment block in Ballincollig.
Lisa O’Sullivan in her new home in Ballincollig, Cork. (Image: RTÉ/ Room Wanted)
It means she is near her friends, and nearer the city so she can access her hospital appointments and the NCIB, where she visits for counselling sessions, eye clinics, and to socialise with others.
“This is my home now and I’m thrilled,” she told TheJournal.ie.
“What I’m trying to do now is help others and pay it forward. I want to make more people aware of Clúid, Respond and other housing associations out there that can help people like me or people with low-incomes.”
She describes the wait for a house as a “nightmare” and says she doesn’t want others to have go through the same thing.
Clúid is one of the largest housing associations in Ireland, delivering 3,664 homes to low income families, single people, older people, people with a disability and Traveller families all over Ireland.
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Ah ffs Why are so many of the comments on here turning negative on every single story. This will bring us into the next generation of data speeds country wide. and too boot it gives the government cash, as previously mentioned could be used to fund a new national children’s hospital.
if people don’t start to think and act more positively we’ll never get out of this hole we’re in.
People are immensely angry Bilbo at the way the government have let us down. Indeed this and he lower cost of borrowing are good news stories but without getting out to protest, people need to vent somewhere. Better here than hurling rocks at policemen though.
but they haven’t let is down…
You’re right,but there’s no way on this earth they’ll spend it on a hospital or schools,hate to say it,but a lot of it will be wasted on advisers and pr projects plus consultons fee’s and by the time they go to do anything with it,there’ll be nought left
Fantastic! That’ll should pay for the new National Children’s Hospital… When can we expect the networks to launch the rollout of 4G?
I didn’t realise mobile carriers were responsible for building children’s hospitals! Is that why there’s been such confusion over sites?
Excellent news.
They should use these funds to roll out high speed broadband around the country. It would be an investment in the country’s infrastructure that will pay off.
A good day for the bondholders indeed.
Yields are down on Irish debt AND we’ve just raised enough money to pay the next coupon!
Trade of the century for those who bought up the bonds when there seemed a chance the banks might default.
Resulting in many of Ireland’s poorer having to buy new equipment in order to watch TV. The better-off already had the most up-to-date equipment.
I’m sure they said the same thing when they started building roads and motorways.
Progress comes at a price. But it’s worth every penny.
What story were you reading??
The story I read was that the 800mhz only became available by the closure of the analogue TV signal.
Yeah, because an obsolete system was replaced with a more efficient, higher quality, higher capacity that offers more channels for less money and power. Ireland’s digital television system is one of the best in Europe. To continue to service and replace the old analogue system would have cost too much money resulting in an unreliable service. In order to receive this system people were expected to spend on average of about 50euro. The existing antenna systems are sufficient as its broadcast on the existing UHF band as the analogue. For this 50euro you have HD pictures and extra channels all in high quality. Now in saying all of this, were legally obliged by the EU to shut off our analogue TV services by 2012 so it was not a choice really. Can you tell me this, in the 70′s when the rest of the world were moving to colour TV, should we have stayed B&W?
bigger bills for us on the way so
Why?
higher speeds more like… 4g here we come…
Yeh the milk is running dry on the 3G cashcow. Bring in the 4G fattened calf and hike the prices and round up on the way.
Penetrate walls, sounds healthy for the body that …
Maybe the operators should sort out the current problems of dropping coverage.
You listening Vodafone?
How am I supposed to update my status on the motorway when I’ve no coverage!!
Who will ultimately pay this €855 million fee? the punters will!
this is just another form of indirect taxation.
To all the techies who are SO excited about the POSSIBLE download speeds,
get over yourselves its mobile internet its not a cure for cancer??
Ridiculous. 400m + is being forked over to the exchequer this month courtesy of telecoms announced today. They’re investing those astonishing amount of money in order to increase their customer bases by providing a higher level of customer service. Thus becoming more profitable and furthering their stability in Ireland (jobs, heavier investments, better services for our country). If you don’t want the service, don’t get it and get back under that bridge.
How do you increase your customer base in a market that is no longer growing?
prices will go up that’s for certain!
Money raised from sale has gone straight to the Troika as agreed,
How much did the change over cost? And if its less than what is going to be given what will be done with the difference?
have your say