A FATHER who has walked the city streets for nights with his son is pleading with the local authority to help him find accommodation where he can live in with his mental health difficulties.
Eddie Benn says he is at the end of his wits to know what to do for his son, Lee (23), who suffers from very severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
Lee cannot live in his family home in Edward Street because that is where his mental health difficulties began.
His fear of dirt and germs is so extreme that he has to wait for someone else to use a door handle to open a door before he can walk through, his father explained.
“I got him into the hostel but he couldn’t stay there. I ended up walking the streets of Limerick night after night with him. He can’t hack it there,” said Eddie.
‘The place was very dirty. It smelled of urine and I was afraid. There were people using drugs there,” Lee told the Limerick Post.
Lee has been having treatment for his OCD and matters have improved but he is still unable to cope with crowds where people might accidentally brush off him or the possibility of dirt and germs.
Lately, Eddie has been paying €30 a night to keep Lee in a summer-let student accommodation which is clean and comfortable but that will end in August.
Meanwhile, he has been told that the landlord wants him and his wife out of their privately rented home and he is now also facing homelessness.
“I was a council tenant in Clarina until they came to demolish the houses up there and they said I would be housed after a temporary stint in private renting. That was sixteen years ago. All I want is a house where my son will be safe,” he told the Limerick Post.
Limerick City and County Council said it does not comment on individual cases, as it doesn’t believe personal information should be discussed in such a public forum.
The spokesman added that the local authority deals with all cases on a case by case basis and in a sensitive manner.
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