Tullamore family in limbo following fire in their house

A TULLAMORE family have been left homeless following a fire which destroyed their home at Chancery Close, Tullamore.

Peter Daly, his wife Roisin and their daughters Ellie and Casey are now living in one room in a local bed and breakfast..

‘’It happened three weeks ago when the clothes hanging over the range caught fire,’’ said Peter. ‘’Everything is destroyed and there is smoke damage throughout the house. Roisin stood in the kitchen with a fire extinguisher to try to get it out, then she ran to a neighbour. We had to get our own accommodation in a hotel for a week.’’

Peter Daly says his rent is up to date on the house and in fact he is overpaid but adds that the council won’t reimburse him. The council has offered him the house next door but the family are refusing to move in because it has been boarded up for over a year.

‘’The garden is grown over, there are tyres and exhaust pipes. I opened the door of the house and the smell hits you. The presses are all down, the marley is up on the floor. The floorboards are all up and there is writing all over the wall. I said I can’t bring my kids into that. The council said they wouldn’t do anything with it. ‘ It is what it is’ I was told. I asked why it was not given out, they said it’s not fit to be given out yet, but in your circumstances it’s good enough. It’s an absolute kip,’’ said Mr Daly.

When he asked the council if they would do the house up before moving in, Mr Daly claimed they were told, ‘’you are not going to walk into a palace are you?’’.

‘’I said a shed would be better, said Roisin. ''The house is a year and a half vacant. It was boarded up, it was never opened or cleaned, then when they were going to give it to us I could see them coming out with all the rubbish thinking we would take it. The council needs to stand up and say this is wrong. I want someone from the HSE or health and safety to tell me that me and my kids can go in and live in that house. I don't think it’s fit for a rat. It has been abandoned, it’s cold and damp,’’ adds Roisin.

Roisin suffers from depression and she has asthma. The family have given a letter to the council regarding her health concerns.

‘’I am on an inhaler and antibiotics. The clerk of works, fire brigade and council said our house is not fit to live in, so why are they trying to put us back in,’’ asked Roisin.

The family have now sought to move away from the estate and are seeking a house elsewhere.

Offaly County Council say they don’t comment on individual cases. However, they did confirm that the “family who lived at 24 Chancery Close had to move due to a fire at their house. They were offered No 25 Chancery Close but they say it has been boarded up for some time and it is damp and do not want to move into No. 24. They are now in B&B accommodation in town.”