The Laois County Council’s Housing Department has more than 1,000 repairs on homes waiting to be carried out, a meeting has heard.
Head of Housing Ian McCormack made the startling revelation in response to a question from Cllr Aidan Mullins at a recent Municipal meeting.
It led the Sinn Fein Cllr to conclude that the department is in crisis because it is so under-resourced.
Mr McCormack said: “There are 300 minor repairs and 714 routine repairs on the housing repair list.
“To date, in excess of 959 repairs have been carried out in 2017.”
Cllr Mullins replied: “The situation regarding housing repairs has worsened over the past number of years.
“There’s over 1,000 repairs waiting to be carried out. Many of these are minor and some people are whinging over loose door handles, for those I have no sympathy.
“But there’s some who can’t cook or don’t have heating in their homes. I feel the Council could be in breach or their tenant-landlord agreements.
“I know of one person who is waiting for her toilet to be fixed and when she calls County Hall, she is told that the fault is logged. It’s all down to resources and I think the department is in crisis.”
Cllr Paschal McEvoy echoed Cllr Mullins’ sentiments and told a similar tale of a person who has been in touch with him.
He said: “I have one person who has been looking for a door since last December.
“If it’s taken six months to get 900 repairs done, it’ll take another six months to get the present repairs carried out.”
