'There were mushrooms growing in the corner of the room'

Mushrooms growing in a house on Dublin's North Circular Road, which was being rented by a Polish couple and their two small children
Photograph: The Irish Times

MATT BYRNE, an outreach worker with the Vincentian Refugee Centre, says that he is continually shocked at the state of rented accommodation in Dublin's north inner city.

He says that many tenants are being forced to live in properties that are infested with vermin, covered in mould and which lack basic facilities.

Volunteers recently took photographs of this house (pictured) on Dublin's North Circular Road which was being rented by a Polish couple and their two children, aged three and five years of age.

"One room was literally black with mildew, there were mushrooms growing in the corner of the room.

"The family had to move out of the bedroom and sleep in the living room," says Mr Byrne.

"The landlord told the couple they could either leave or move to another property of his.

"It turned out to be almost as bad and was infested with rats."

He says that local authorities are slow to inspect rented accommodation and that tenants in many cases are forced to take whatever accommodation is on offer.

Local authorities undertake thousands of inspections of properties each year, yet just a handful of legal actions are taken against landlords, Mr Byrne says.

Some local authorities are not inspecting any properties, despite their legal obligation to do so.

Latest official figures published in 2006 show that 19 local authorities did not inspect any properties over a 12-month period.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times