Residents of a building in Dublin city centre terrorised by rats have revealed their horrific living conditions.
Joanne Smith, 27, who lives on Cork Street, said she had to move out of her flat after it was marked as "unliveable" by Dublin City Council due to the mould and rat problem. The horrified mum-of-two told Dublin Live: "The rats were all outside my door.
"We had birds coming down and eating the rats." She added: "We had a dead rat on the table and one on the floor. The neighbour that lives at the very top, he’d come down and take care of the rats.
Read more: Disabled women say they are having to live in rat and mould-infested flats
"It came to a point where he had to buy rat cages." For Joanne, the straw that broke the camel's back was when she came home after a long day and opened her door only for a rat to run out of her house.
"I ended up leaving and stayed at my sister’s place for three weeks." The rats weren't the only issue plaguing the residents of the property.
Joanne said the walls and furniture in her flat were covered in black mould. She said all her children's toys and clothing were destroyed.
She added: "I had to end up going into the school and ask them if they had any spare uniforms because the ones I bought were covered in mould."
She added: "My four-year-old daughter has autism she'd constantly go touch the walls. It was so bad that it wasn’t safe to let her go and sit in the bedroom because of the mould."
When Joanne moved into the building in 2019, it was already in a state of disrepair. The property was sold a few months later to a new owner.
She said the current management company, Martin Property Consultants, installed mechanical vents but the mould issue still persisted in the back bedroom. She couldn't open the windows either because of the rats on her window ledge.
Paul Geoghan, who also lives in the building, said his son was forced to move out after he and his guide dog fell ill due to the damp issues. He told Dublin Live: "My son is fully blind and both he and his guide dog kept getting sick.
"We had to move the dog to Tallaght to his mum’s place. My son had to move out because there was no point in having a guide dog if he couldn’t have him with him. It’s just ridiculous."
Paul added that his 12-year-old daughter, who would usually come down every weekend, has not visited in nearly half a year due to the rat infestation.
A spokesman for Martin Property Consultants said: "This is a recent purchase of a client of ours and upon inspection and survey there was in fact a serious mould issue identified in the property. On the instruction of our clients, we were tasked with rectifying the issue which is now completed with a mechanical ventilation unit I believe with a cost of above €15,000."
He added that "any seemingly delay" to the works was due to "added complications of doing works with tenants in situ rather than vacant possession" but the company "aimed to complete works without having to issue notices to tenants where at all possible".
The spokesman said that the pest company identified "the drains as the cause of [ongoing rat infestation] and took the appropriate action. They did not identify waste collection issues on this."
They added: "I feel it must also be made clear that since our client purchased this building they have instructed that all issues (either pre-existing or new) be addressed promptly and... have never put budget constraints on us to bring this building back to a good standard."
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