Elderly residents in Wexford waiting over a year for ‘collapsed’ doors to be replaced

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Elderly residents in Co Wexford are waiting over a year for new windows and doors to be installed at their homes despite being approved for works under the council’s Housing Aid for Older People grant.

At the June meeting of the New Ross Municipal District (NRMD) Councillor Pat Barden said he had spoken to a number of applicants who might not “even be around” by the time their works were done.

“What is the wait time now from the point of application until the works are carried out?” he asked housing officer Martina Donohue.

“I don’t have a definite time scale but priority tends to be given to those with mobility issues, to try and keep them living in their own home,” replied Ms Donohue. “So with windows and doors other applications are given priority ahead of them.”

“It used to be 2-3 months but now it’s gone to 12-14 months,” continued Cllr Barden. “It’s a long time to wait, people might not even be around after that time.”

“I wouldn’t think it takes that long,” said Ms Donohue, “but I’ll have a word with our grants team and see if I can get an estimate of how long windows and doors are taking.”

Cllr John Dwyer had also been in touch with residents awaiting repairs to their windows and doors and said some “flexibility” was required when dealing with these cases.

“I’m aware of one instance in an estate where a front door has collapsed, I’m not being dramatic, these are actual cases,” he said. “I’m getting an answer back from our housing staff that we have scheduled a replacement but we have no funding for it and don’t know how long it will take. There are emergency cases we have to deal with, I would like to see action taken on these, some flexibility applied.”