Whitehall residents are having to use plug-in heaters because the heating systems in their properties do not work properly, while there are “serious health and safety risks” with corroded and rusted railings and girders.
Labour city councillor Colette Connolly has highlighted maintenance, heating, and health and safety problems in the Whitehall area, which is located to the rear of Corbett Court, following an internal Galway City Council report.
The report found that all the properties surveyed use high cost plug-in electric heaters to supplement heating deficits; the solid fuel system does not work in 59 per cent of the properties; and 41 per cent have no storage heaters. The windows also need to be replaced to keep in heat and reduce outside noise.
“It is truly shocking that residents do not have access to adequate heating,” said Cllr Connolly.
The report also found the properties have no permanent ventilation in the living rooms, while 88.2 per cent have no extractor hood over cooker.
Cllr Connolly also highlighted the “serious health and safety risk to residents” given the condition of some of the railings and “the corrosion of the steel girders” supporting the structure.
“It is questionable whether given the access issues, that Whitehall is actually suitable as accommodation for the elderly, the vast majority of whom are over 74 years,” she said.
Cllr Connolly is calling for funding from the 2014 city council budget to allocated for retrofitting for Whitehall and an application for other funds be made to the Department of the Environment.
She also wants to see the council’s director of services for housing, Joe O’Neill, visit the site to inspect the situation for himself, hold “an urgent meeting with residents”, and come up with a schedule of works to address the issues
