A MOTHER who is going blind due to an incurable eye condition, has pleaded with Limerick City Council to find her a house where she and her two children can feel safe.
The 36-year old, who is a lone parent, has the eyesight of a person 77 years of age due to a condition known as Macular Dystrophy.
“I don’t know the day that I will wake up blind but the doctors say it will come and when it does, I need to be able to feel secure and for my children to feel secure. I can’t do that where I live, I feel too vulnerable,’ she told the Limerick Post.
The young woman has been on the housing list for 11 years, and was given a house in Hyde Villas.
“The place was over run with rats and they couldn’t get rid of them. I left when I saw one climb into my daughter’s Moses basket,” she told the Limerick Post.
Since then, she has been renting privately but the area where she lives is a haunt for gangs and street drinkers.
“I was diagnosed with the condition in 2004 and it is getting worse, Anything two feet or more away is a blur. I have to use a special magnifying glass to read numbers on my phone or any print. But I can’t use a cane or get a guide dog because that would mark me out as vulnerable and I live on my own with my children. It’s a rough area and I’m afraid,” she said.
Most nights, there are gangs hanging around outside her window and on several occasions, they have come into the driveway of her house and sat drinking on the doorstep.
She wants to see her little family settled before darkness descends completely.
“My daughter is going to the project school and my son is in Pallaskenry in secondary school. The council offered me a house in Ballinacurra Weston but I don’t think I could cope with living there – I would be at risk because of my eyes”.
She is hoping that the city council will house her in Greenfields, Edward Street, Rosbrien or O’Connell Avenue.
“I just want somewhere that is quiet and where the children will be safe and able to get to school,” she told the Limerick Post.
A spokesperson for the City Council’s housing department said that while they do not discuss individual cases, they are aware of the lady’s circumstances.
