Cork City social housing: ‘The rats swim up the toilet bowl’ in Togher flats
Tenants in Cork City's 1960s-era O'Byrne flats are demanding urgent action from the council to address severe living conditions, including damp, mould, and rodent infestations. Local representatives are calling for either significant refurbishment or full redevelopment of the aging housing stock.
Why it matters
The story highlights the ongoing social housing crisis and the failure of local government to maintain safe living standards for vulnerable populations.
The O’Byrne flats on St Finbarr’s Rd. The three-storey 1960s maisonette balcony flats were pioneered by the city’s then architect, Éamon O’Byrne. Of the city’s currently occupied 160-or-so O’Byrne flats, 90 of them are in Togher. Picture: Larry Cummins
Vague promises of surveys and regeneration are not good enough, especially when council tenants living in substandard housing conditions have heard them all before, a southside Cork TD has warned.
Of the city’s currently occupied 160-or-so O’Byrne flats — the three-storey 1960s maisonette balcony flats pioneered by the city’s then architect, Éamon O’Byrne — 90 of them are in Togher.
The names — Clashduv Rd, Cherry Tree Rd, Sycamore Place, Hazel Rd, Maple Place and Togher Rd — may not have the notoriety of the now-condemned flats at Noonan’s Rd and St Finbarr’s Rd, but to a greater or lesser degree share the same problems.
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