KERRI Martin has been living with her five-year-old daughter, Lexi, in a rat-infested home in Monabraher, Ballynanty for almost four years.
And she believes that Limerick City and County Council “genuinely don’t care” about her atrocious living conditions.
“The day I moved in, I was on the verge of homelessness. When I was offered this place, I just took it. It was a roof over Lexi’s head and all,” Kerri told the Limerick Post.
She remembers the day she moved in describing the garden as “overgrown, rubbish everywhere with rats. It’s always been the same”.
She is standing in the kitchen looking out over the back garden which was cleared by her partner, Kevin.
“They said it is up to me to maintain the garden. We wouldn’t mind maintaining it if it was given to us in a decent condition, but with the rats there’s no way we can,” Kerri explained.
“It’s a nightmare living here, we have no room to do anything. Lexi has no room for her toys, she can’t play in the back garden; and it’s only the past three weeks she can go out the front because we got a gate put up.
Pointing to a corner of the room, Kerri says Lexi’s toys were kept there, but then rats came through a gap at the bottom of the wall.
A wall separates the unfinished kitchen, which is exposed to the elements. Kevin knocks on the wooden ceiling in a graffiti stained, would-be kitchen, hole in the wall.
“That’s the bathroom up there, so you can imagine how cold and damp that gets in winter. Easy access for rats too. It is terrible to have people living in this condition.”
Asked if they hired private exterminators, Kevin replied, “We genuinely can’t afford it. Every month, often twice a month, we bring the child to Beaumont Hospital, with the costs of travelling, it all adds up, we can’t afford it.”
Kevin suffers from asthma and says if he spends too long out clearing the garden, the dust affects him, his last attempt leaving him with four types of medication.
His neighbours found dead cats and rats in their garden shed recently.
“This is meant to be our home. There’s no comfort, we can’t live here,” he said.
A spokesperson for Limerick City and County Council said they don’t comment on individual cases but if a tenant or customer had a concern or issue, relevant staff were available to discuss their case.
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