Cork City social housing: ‘I am so grateful to Cork City Council for our new home’
Residents of the Noonan’s Rd and St Finbarr’s Rd flats in Cork City have been relocated to new social housing, citing improved living conditions. Tenants and advocates describe the move as transformative, noting the elimination of issues like damp, rats, and poor infrastructure.
Why it matters
This highlights the tangible impact of urban renewal and social housing policy on the quality of life and dignity of low-income residents.
Martin Geary in his new home. He lived in the Noonan’s Rd flats for 18 years. Picture: Donal O'Keeffe
“I am so grateful for my new home, it’s gorgeous, there’s no damp, there’s no rats, there’s no balconies falling down,” says Betty.
Betty is not her real name, but she claims she got in enough trouble for being “mouthy” with the city council before the decision was made, three years ago, to move tenants out of the dilapidated 60-year-old Noonan’s Rd and St Finbarr’s Rd flats.
Asked what that means, she says things were tense for a while, “but everything is grand now”.
“Look, I don’t want my name [published], because I don’t want to be stirring things up again, and anyway the God’s honest truth is I am actually so grateful to the council for my new place.
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