Mum says she must take kids four miles for bath

A distraught Laytown mother who has to bring her children to her father"s house to bathe them, says she is dreading Christmas this year since she learned last week that her bathroom won"t be replaced before Christmas. Mother of three Suzanne McLoughlin of Alverno Court, has been waiting for the council to repair her bathroom since she moved into the house five years ago. 'I had been promised they would start work this week, but just last week I was told nothing will happen until after Christmas,' she said. She explained that it was impossible to have a bath in her county council home, as the water just flows down into the kitchen below. 'I haven"t once had a bath in this house and sometimes have a quick shower, but even then, the water drips into the kitchen,' she said. 'I have to drive four miles to my father"s place to give my children a bath. I have three girls and I can just imagine having to bring them to Dad"s on Christmas Eve,' she added. She said she is terrified of running any water in the bathroom because it simply runs down through the light fittings into the kitchen below. 'The ceiling in the kitchen is in a terrible condition. It is ready to cave in. I have had to move appliances like my microwave because the water was dripping down by the sockets I originally used,' Ms McLoughlin said. She said the tenant who lived in the house before her also had problems with leaks from the bathroom. 'I have been trying to get the council to do something since I moved in here five years ago. 'When the council surveyed the house to connect gas recently, I was told that I would get a new bathroom suite and ceiling and that the work would be done the first week in December,' she added. 'I rang last week just to find out what day they were coming, and I was told it was too near Christmas and they wouldn"t be coming until the New Year. I was devastated,' she said. 'I really have been given the run around. If I hadn"t rang, they would never have told me that they weren"t coming,' she said. A spokesperson for Meath County Council said it did not comment on individual cases.