Damages for disabled man over sewage in council flat shower

The Irish Times - Friday, July 8, 2011
Damages for disabled man over sewage in council flat shower
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RAY MANAGH

A BURNS victim who needs to shower several times a day because of his injuries was left by Dublin City Council to live in conditions unfit for human habitation at Dolphin House flats, a judge said yesterday.

Circuit Court president Mr Justice Matthew Deery said Anthony Gannon (54) had complained for years about sewage welling up in his shower tray and spilling over into his bathroom before anything was done about it.

The judge awarded Mr Gannon, who is registered as disabled, €15,000 damages against the local authority. The case was seen by lawyers as a test case and could apply to hundreds of the other flat dwellers.

“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,” Mr Justice Deery said.

Barrister Peter Maguire said it was hard to imagine circumstances which could be more degrading than being forced to live amid the foul sewage from other people’s apartments.

Mr Gannon, who was severely burned as a child of seven when he fell on to a white-hot electric cooker, told the court he had lived at Dolphin House for 25 years until he was eventually rehoused at Blackditch, Ballyfermot, Dublin, only a month ago.

He said he had complained for years when sewage started backing up into his bath. The bath had been replaced and a shower, with full safety attachments for a disabled person, had been installed.The problem returned, however, with raw sewage filling up his shower tray and spilling over on to the bathroom floor. From time to time the problem had been inspected, but little or nothing was done.

Mr Gannon said shortly after his solicitor Thomas Loomes had threatened to sue the council in 2010, some works had been carried out, and he had told Deborah Ryan, the council’s senior liability and risk control officer, he was “happy” with the situation.

Ms Ryan told John P Kehoe, for the council, there had been problems with the shower, but they had been rectified. When shown pictures of sewage in the shower, she said it was unacceptable.

Mr Justice Deery said civil engineer Ronald Bergin had taken the pictures during an unscheduled visit to Mr Gannon’s apartment and had identified the waste in the shower tray as sewage.

“If it looks like it and smells like it, then . . .” Judge Deery said.

Mr Bergin told the court Mr Gannon’s apartment was otherwise spotlessly clean, and he was certain what he had seen was raw human effluent in the shower.The bottom of the shower curtain had been stained from overspills.

He said the 436-flat complex had been due for redevelopment, but the plans had fallen through due to the banking crisis.

Mr Justice Deery said he accepted Mr Gannon had complained of the problem over a long period, and that he had been distressed by the conditions because of his personal and health issues