Laois council called on to have out of hours house repair service for its tenants

County Hall must fund an out-of-hours repair service for people living in social housing, according to public representatives.

Cllr James Kelly, Independent, made the call at a recent meeting with Laois County Council officials where he said it was a ‘major issue’ facing public representatives. However, he was told that more money will be needed to deliver round-the-clock repair cover.

He tabled a motion that proposed that the local authority provide out-of-hours on-call standby contract services such as plumbing, electrical, etc for its tenants.

Trevor Hennessy, Acting Senior Engineer in the Housing Secition  replied in writing.

“Currently Laois County Council Housing Maintenance staff are available during normal business hours. In order to provide a full-time standby Contract service for plumbing / electrical services outside of normal business hours, additional funding in the Housing Maintenance Area will be required,” he said.

Cllr Kelly said further explanation is needed from the housing section. He gave an instance of a problem in Mountrath on St Patrick’s Day when a boiler burst flooding the downstairs of a house.

“I got a phone call at 6 pm from a woman who had been working all day and when she got home walked straight into water,” he said.

Cllr Kelly was contacted and he made called Mr Hennessy. Cllr Kelly praised the engineer's response in sourcing a repair.

He said a different system applied over Easter when a company was available to call. However, Cllr Kelly did not favour such an approach and cautioned that there would be no guarantee in this system that a problem will be responded to. 

He insisted said the system is needed.

“We are depending on the good will of council staff who don’t have to take phone calls out of hours…it’s out of the goodness of their heart but other staff may not be the same because everybody has life after work,” he said.

Cllr Kelly said there should be some form of allowance for staff who are called on out of hours so that serious issues can be sorted.

“It’s a major, major issue for tenants if we can't get these faults addressed,” he said.

Cllr John King, Fine Gael, supported him. He said the fire service is on standby 24/7 and it should not be a difficult sending out a repair person at weekends.

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“We have to provide funding,” he said.

He also said an immediate repair would limit the damage that might not otherwise be dealt with and could end up costing the council a lot of money in a big house overhaul because there was no response provided.

Cllr Ollie Clooney, the Independent, backed the motion also. He said he has had the experience of trying to assist but it can be difficult to find a repair person.

While he understood the aim of the proposal, Cllr Paddy Bracken, Fianna Fáil, had his reservations.

He said he had always found that council staff have generally resolved problems out-of-hours. He added it is always difficult to find somebody to do a repair at weekends and it may be difficult to have somebody on standby full time.