Tenants left without heat for weeks waiting on plumbers

THE plight of several council tenants in Navan who have had no heat in their home for weeks, was highlighted at last week's meeting of Navan Municipal Council,

Lengthy delays in the council carrying out repairs to heating systems or boilers were highlighted by Cllr Eddie Fennessy who recalled that last year, Christmas was ruined for a number of families who were left “freezing in unheated homes”.

At last week's meeting of the council, Cllr Fennessy called on the council to ring-fence funding to cover plumbing costs this winter, particularly during the Christmas period.

“The fund would only be used if the Council’s own plumbing services have been overwhelmed. The fund would allow a tenant hire the services of a plumbing contractor to repair heating systems,” he proposed.

However he was told the council would only use their own contractors, but had appointed two new contractors this year.

Cllr Fennessy said he proposed the motion purely out of a genuine concern for the wellbeing of council tenants in Navan.

“For a year now the council have not been able to provide adequate plumbing services to their tenants and things have only got worse as the year progressed.

“I'm called daily now by council tenants with broken heating systems and in most cases, broken for a number of weeks.

“The tenants are always at the end of their tether having been without heat and hot water for weeks.”

He acknowledged the council's response to my motion and welcomed the addition of two new plumbing contractors to the council's roster.

“However, the council's ability to provide heating services to their tenant's is not there. We can not get away from that fact that it is taking up to two months to repair heating systems.

“Christmas is coming and if I'm to be honest, I'm not looking forward to it. I spent last Christmas reassuring freezing families that help was on the way, but it never came. Some of those families were forced to leave their homes and stay with relatives because of the cold.

“It ruined Christmas for those tenants and sadly for their children too.

“I was hoping for a little bit more in the council's response. A reassurance or a guarantee, that plumbing services won't be overwhelmed this Christmas.

“That the repair and maintenance of gas boilers would be managed and that no family would go cold during the festive period. My fears have no been allayed,.” he said

A response from the council stated that as owner of the property it has a duty of care to tenants and a legal responsibility as both landlord and client to appoint appropriately qualified, certified, competent and insured contractors to carry out plumbing services in their properties.

“All contractors are appointed following a public procurement process and a formal contract is signed between Meath Co Council and the Contractor. We do not permit third parties to carry out works on our behalf for a number of reasons, including health and safety compliance, our legal responsibility, warranty compliance, and public procurement rules.

“We need to assess the required repairs and record all maintenance carried out at the property. All of our contractors are required to comply with public procurement rules, have appropriate tax compliance and carry out works in accordance with relevant specifications. All contractors that carry out work on our properties must be approved by our Health and Safety Section to ensure that they are competent to carry out works on behalf of the Council in accordance with Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2013.

“We have two additional contractors appointed for plumbing maintenance this year and we hope that this will alleviate most of the plumbing issues experienced in recent times.”