Vulnerable council tenant left without toilet for three days

There was condemnation of the incident when Councillors met this week.

A council tenant was forced to relieve himself in his garden with the help of his carers because of delays in fixing a blockage in his house’s waste pipes.

Councillors were told of the experience of the man at their monthly meeting held this week, when Fianna Fáil’s John Paul Feeley was highly critical of the slow response to the issue.

The meeting heard it took three days for the issue to be resolved, with backlogs of waste coming up through pipes in the bathroom.

Cllr Feeley said he was “disappointed” to have to raise the issue for the second time:

“I do think it warrants being brought before the entire council and I think it warrants a response from the Executive. The question I asked last Thursday, and I ask it again, how many days is it acceptable for the backwash from a toilet and a sewerage system to be flowing into the bathroom of that house before the council will deal with it?”

He told the meeting he contacted the housing office of the local authority on December 20 last about the situation, telling them of the situation involving a vulnerable adult who relies on carers. They were not equipped to deal with the blockage.

“I want to make it very clear at the outset that the council staff I spoke to were helpful and more than conscious of the need to do something about it. The fault does not lie with the officials of Cavan County Council in relation to this,” said Cllr Feeley.

The Blacklion man said he was getting regular updates from council staff but they were being let down by the contractor hired to carry out the work.

It was three days later, December 23, before the issue was resolved and the backlog cleared.

“In the intervening period, this individual had no access to a toilet. He had no access to washing facilities except for the sink in the kitchen. The carers had to take him down the garden to do what nature requires.”

Cllr Feeley called for a “thorough investigation” to be carried out by the council and said the individual involved and his carers should receive an apology from the local authority.

Director of Services, Housing, Eoin Doyle, told councillors the blame for the slow response lies with the contractor:

“Clearly this was a sensitive case. It required specialist work from a specialist contractor. Given the nature of the case we would have expected the work would be done on the given day. In the end it was done at the end of the third day. That quite clearly isn’t acceptable. We’re taking that up with the contractor directly. That is happening as we speak.”

He committed to carrying out an investigation into the situation and said an apology would be given to the man involved: “We will be writing to them, indicating the fact that we are not happy with the services we gave to them and to apologise accordingly. Cllr Feeley has requested a thorough investigation and we certainly will do that. It is our expectation that in these situations going forward there will be a very swift response.”