The Circuit Court has found that a burns victim whose injuries required him to shower several times daily was left in conditions unfit for human habitation at Dolphin House. The Court awarded Anthony Gannon €15,000 in damages against Dublin City Council for breach of the Council's contractual duty of care under housing legislation. Mr Gannon brought the case after years of complaints about raw sewage welling up in his shower tray and spilling over into the bathroom of his apartment.
"The evidence leads me inevitably to conclude that his apartment at Dolphin House was unfit for human habitation and in breach of the council's contractual duty of care under the Housing Act," Judge Deery said.
Mr Gannon was recently rehoused elsewhere in Dublin, after living at Dolphin House for 25 years.
The living standards at Dolphin House flats have been questioned for some time now. Readers of the Bulletin may remember the report launched by Dolphin House residents in October 2010 on their right to adequate housing. A survey of the conditions in Dolphin House prompted the President of the Irish Human Rights Commission to state that Ireland is clearly in breach of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights by failing to bring housing standards up to an acceptable level.
Click here for more information on Rialto Rights in Action.
Click here to read an Irish Times article on the case.
Click here to read an article by Rose Wall, Solicitor in Charge at the Mercy Law Resource Centre on the right to adequate housing.