Chimney misery for Strabane family

A TEARFUL mother, waiting since March for much-needed repairs to be carried out on a damaged chimney on her property, is pleading with the Housing Executive to ‘just do the repairs’ so that she and her children can live in a home that is safe and warm.

Springhill resident, Noirin Devenney, who says she is at her wits’ end with the constant issues surrounding the property, accused the Housing Executive of ‘passing the buck’.

A spokesperson for the Housing Executive said, “Local office staff were recently made aware this family has been impacted by an issue with the chimney in their home, and have taken action to resolve the matter. A new electric fire was installed this week, and the contractor has been instructed to demolish the chimney stack and repair the roof. This should be completed shortly, weather-permitting.

“We apologise for the delay in responding to this repair, and will liaise with the tenant to ensure the final works are completed satisfactorily.”

Ms Devenney told the Chronicle that she had initially reported the cracked chimney on March 1 this year.

She said, “I put numerous calls into the Housing Executive to be told that although the job was on the system, there were no notes attached. No-one had even bothered to look into it.

“When I finally did get word in September, I was flabbergasted by their latest excuse, which was ‘We’re waiting for the good weather’. The good weather? Did they not see the beautiful summer we had? Another time I was told, ‘We’re waiting on a specialist,’ to which I replied ‘How do you know you need a specialist if no-one has bothered to come out?”

She said she had been getting ‘excuse after excuse‘”’ and was ‘absolutely stressed’.

The mum said, “I’m living here with two children in a house which is constantly cold, where every day we’re met with soot and water on the living room floor. The floor is beginning to warp as well so that’ll need replaced.

“I can’t wait another month let alone another year to get this sorted.

“It’s affecting my health, and my children’s health. I feel like nobody cares; yet if I owed the Executive even a fiver, they’d be up here banging my door to get it.”

This is the latest in a string of issues that Noirin has had with the house since moving in.

“Both my kitchen and bathroom floors needed lifted due to flooding at the back door, and an unsecured toilet and my son was injured by an oversized banister. I also had a kitchen cupboard door, which wasn’t securely fastened, come off in my hand and injure me, yet the Executive accused us of breaking it!”

Noirin said her world was ‘slowly falling apart’.

She added, “I’m so fed up. I’m a good resident, and do everything a good resident should, but I’m not getting enough response from the Executive. I don’t know how I’m going to replace things which have been damaged. They should just put us somewhere else – a dog would live better!”