The High Court has been informed that the Leitrim County Council has managed to arrange temporary housing for a family who asserted that their current residence is negatively impacting their health and they have no other place to fall back on. The court was also informed that an alternative housing solution has been proposed to them by the council, although the proposed residence will not be available until sometime in September.
Thomas and Louise Stokes, together with their five minor children, took legal action against the council arguing they can’t inhabit the dwelling assigned to them by the local authority in Carrick on Shannon’s Mount Temple, Co Leitrim. According to them, they had left that dwelling and have been staying with family members most recently.
Acting on their behalf, Nuala Egan SC contended that they are in desperate need of adequate housing at the moment. Earlier this month, the family launched a legal battle against the county council’s assertion that they are not categorised as homeless. They are also requesting that the alleged refusal by the council to grant their application for a shift in social housing be overturned.
As the case resumed before Mr Justice Rory Mulcahy at Tuesday’s High Court non-term sitting, the council’s defence lawyer Christopher Hughes stated that his client has successfully arranged temporary shelter for the family which will become accessible in the upcoming days. He also stated that the family is yet to decide on the proposal for a transfer to another property. It is hoped, he said, that this offer of property transfer could alleviate the issues brought up during the litigation.
However, Ms Egan, representing the family, responded that while the family appreciates the short-term accommodation provision, they still need more details about the offered property’s suitability before they can accept the transfer. In the meantime, they were eager for the legal proceedings to continue. To this end, Mr Justice Mulcahy agreed to postpone the matter until early September.
The family asserts that after taking residence in the Mount Temple dwelling half a decade prior, their well-being has deteriorated due to moisture and fungi infestation within the home. The fungi issue was so extensive that it constrained them to slumber on the ground floor instead of the first-floor chambers. As per their statement, the council undertook certain measures to mitigate this predicament but these efforts fell short, rendering the dwelling unfit for people to live in during their tenancy. The medical state of their young ones was critically compromised, with some requiring hospital care as a result of respiratory complications.