22 July 2015
By Bryan T. Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
Cork North Central Senator for Fine Gael and the Party’s Seanad Spokesperson for Health, Colm Burke, has described as unacceptable the seven year wait endured by a family in Cork for housing adaptation on disability grounds.
“Seven years ago today, Cork City Council wrote to the family of Lacey Kiely to say that her application for adaptation works to their house was approved. For a family in urgent need of housing adaption to make life easier for their daughter living with intellectual and physical disabilities, this seemed like good news.
“Seven years on and the Kiely family are still waiting. The letter of July 2008 confirmed the details of the works to be completed and confirmed that the information had been sent to the City Architects so that a suitable contractor could be found to complete the works.
“While the family did receive the plans from Cork City Council for this work in November 2008, no work has begun to this date, seven years to the day from the original letter.
“This family, like many others in Cork, are struggling to cope with living with a disability in housing that is not suitable. Simple, cost effective adaptations could make life so much easier for these families.
“In Cork City alone, there are still 57 cases where work is required to be carried out on local authority houses for people with disabilities. The Council must move to resolve these cases as quickly as possible.”
