Desperate family's plea to council

A desperate Navan family who are living in emergency accommodation have appealed for help, as their 15 week old baby daughter has been hospitalised twice, once with pneumonia, due to their damp living conditions.
Doctors and medical social workers have written to Meath County Council on the families behalf warning that their living conditions are making their daughter’s condition worse.
Tom Stokes and his partner, Bridget are desperate for Meath County Council to house them or find suitable alternative accommodation to the damp room they are currently living in with two small children.
Tom says that as well as being damp, the emergency accommodation they have been given has  exposed wires and the pipe connections on the toilet and sink are coming apart.
“We have a two year old boy and 15 week old baby girl. She has had pneumonia and bronchitis and has had to be given oxygen.
“There is mould on the roof and my toddler is also getting sick and has had a number of chest infections.
“In fact, we’ve all had chest infections since we moved there,” he said.
Tom explains that they had been living in Yellow Clay Manor but their landlord put up the rent and they could no longer afford to stay there and presented to the council as homeless last November.
The council found them the single roomed apartment on Brews Hill.
“We’ve told the council that the baby has been very sick, but they have done nothing for us since,” he said.
Tom has furnished the council with a letter from a doctor in Temple Street, which stated his daughter, Mya, was being treated for pneumonia and warning that to prevent further infection, she needs suitable warm and dry living conditions.
A medical social worker from Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda has also written to the council outlining the fact that Mya was treated in that hospital for bronchitis and pointing out that their current living conditions may be exacerbating her condition
She urged the council to review their accommodation in the interest of the child’s health and well being.
“We are living in unsuitable sub standard accommodation.
“There are four of us in one room with an en suite bathroom and there is a very small fridge and a microwave in the room.
“The toilet is leaking from underneath the pipe at the back. It is unsanitary and unsafe, especially with two small children.”
He says the sink is loose and not properly attached to the wall and the room is damp and has many areas of mould growing from the walls.
”There are wires hanging from the roof.
“Our living conditions are appalling and unsafe and doctors have stated that our accommodation is adding to our daughter’s ill health.
“Our children are precious to us, but we don’t have a suitable home for them. We have no proper cooking or sterilising faciticies for our children,” says Tom.
A spokesperson for Meath County Council said they cannot comment on individual cases.