Council ‘can’t re-house’ family burned out of home

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council’s emergency housing provision has been called into question after a family whose apartment had been destroyed by fire was refused help.

31-year-old Ashley Walsh approached the Council for assistance after the upstairs apartment he shared with his partner and two children was completely destroyed when the restaurant it was built over caught fire on Saturday.

“We woke up in the middle of the night when we heard things banging off the window and people shouting outside,” said Walsh. “The Chinese beneath the apartment was engulfed in flames and people who had spotted it were throwing coins at the windows to try to wake us up.”

The apartment, in Shankill Village in south County Dublin, was already filled with smoke and the only exit was barred by the flames coming from below.

Walsh made his way with the rest of his family, which includes a two month old boy, to a balcony from which they managed to escape.

“One of the neighbours arrived with a ladder and we were able to get down in time,” explains Walsh.

Both the apartment and all the family’s belongings were destroyed by fire and smoke damage.

However, when they approached the council to see if they could help, they were told that it was the responsibility of the landlord to re-house them.

“The apartment is in a bad way and won’t be liveable for weeks at least,” adds Walsh, who is now living with his partner and two children in the sitting room of his partner’s mother’s home.

“We lost everything in that fire and we thought the council would be able to do something, but they basically told us we weren’t their problem.”

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council were contacted for comment but none had been given by the time of publication.