‘The kids were getting sick all the time’ – Louth mum reveals horrors of ‘unliveable’ HAP property
The Drogheda Independent‘My baby was getting sick all the time, the damp and mould were making us all ill,” said one young mum as she laid bare the horrific experience of living in Louth without a permanent home for her family.
The woman, who spoke to The Argus on condition of anonymity, is a mother of five children. Her eldest child is just six years old.
The family’s story was highlighted at the monthly meeting of Dundalk Municipal District by Cllr. Sionainn McCann, who spoke of the “unliveable conditions” of a HAP property they had moved into earlier this year.
The “nightmare” began after the woman and her children were moved from what she described as a “farmhouse in Castlebellingham” to a B&B in Drogheda.
"That was an awful, there were six of us living in one room, I knew we couldn’t go on like that. We were there for nine months, and I kept contacting the council to ask if we could be moved.”
In February this year she was told a private rented property was available in Dundalk under the HAP scheme, where she would have more space and, she hoped, the opportunity to give her children a sense of stability.
“But very soon we saw problems. There was damp and mould on the walls, and no matter how much I cleaned it, the damp was still there. It was bad, really bad.”
She began to notice her one year old infant developing a persistent cough, and she too started to feel ill.
"The kids were all getting sick. There was mould everywhere.”
"The smell in the house was terrible, no matter what I tried to do to keep it clean. It was so bad the sheets on the beds started to feel damp.”
When she brought her concerns to the landlord she understood, initially, that some work might be carried out as they asked her to send pictures. But, since then the family have received an eviction notice, with the landlord saying they intend to sell the property.
"I just don’t know what I am supposed to do now,” she said.
She added that they have been given a date in early November to move out, at which point she says they will be facing homelessness.
After uprooting her children’s lives, moving them a number of times, she fears the last impact on them.
"I took my children out of school in Drogheda, and they started school in Dundalk. It is horrible for them.”
Cllr. Sionainn McCann referred to the young mum’s story, and that of another woman when she raised concerns about checks on HAP properties at the Dundalk Municipal meeting.
She said the two women had contacted her after they were placed in houses that were “completely unliveable”.
"After they had flagged problems with these houses, both landlords said they were going to sell, and had issued those tenants with termination notices.”
As a result, both women and their families “ are now looking at going back into homelessness again,” said Cllr. McCann.
She highlighted the turmoil one of the families had faced, moving from Drogheda and having to take their children away from the schools they attended to enrol them in new schools.
"They went through all of this only to be out into a house that is completely unliveable,” said Cllr. McCann.
She asked the council how this could have been prevented. "I’m asking what assessments are carried out by the council? I don’t understand how anyone could have gone into that house and found it OK to move someone into.”
The Argus contacted Louth County Council for a response to the calls, and received the following statement:
'Louth County Council can confirm that it does not allocate tenants to Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) properties.
Under the HAP scheme, tenants source their own accommodation and agree rental terms directly with landlords. To qualify, tenants must be on the social housing waiting list and approved for HAP in County Louth.
Properties are not inspected by the council before a tenant moves in. It is the tenant’s responsibility to ensure the property is suitable for their needs at the time of agreement. However, in accordance with Section B of the HAP landlord agreement, all properties are subject to inspection by Louth County Council’s Private Rented Inspections (PRI) team within eight months of entering the HAP scheme.
These inspections assess compliance with the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 (S.I. No. 137/2019).
Landlords are responsible for ensuring their properties meet these standards and must register the tenancy with the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB). The RTB then notifies the council’s PRI Section, which carries out inspections routinely, as per the council’s annual PRI inspection targets, or in response to tenant complaints.
In 2024, the PRI team inspected over 1,800 properties and issued more than 1,200 advisory letters to landlords recommending improvement works. To date in 2025, over 1,450 inspections have been completed.
Tenants who have concerns about the condition of their rental accommodation are encouraged to contact the council’s PRI team via Customer Services or by email at pri@louthcoco.ie."