Floods, drugs, and violence as Northern Cross residents slam housing horror hell

Smashed up cars, bottles of urine, rats, mould, and homeless people sleeping in hallways are just a few of the issues facing council tenants in the northside of Dublin.

While the promise of a ‘forever home’ was supposed to be a dream come true, this has turned into a nightmare for many. Following Dublin Live’s coverage of residents living in fear at the De Verdon Place on the Malahide Road, more tenants living under the management of Tuath Housing have come forward to outline the untenantable conditions they have unwittingly found themselves in.

One affected resident is Amy from Burnell Place in Northern Cross, a young mother of two whose life with her 15 month old baby girl and 13 year old son has been plagued by troubles ever since she moved into the apartment block let out by Dublin City Council. Having only opened in 2023, residents say the building has had problems from the very beginning.

The issues are on display from the moment visitors enter the building, as Dublin Live can confirm that the elevator was out of order when we visited the property. Amy claims the lift has only been functional for approximately six weeks in total in the over two years that she’s lived there, and she’s forced to carry a pram and young child up to her top floor apartment multiple times a day.

Along the way, Amy is often confronted with anti-social behaviour, as homeless people set up camp in the hallways, openly take drugs, and hurl abuse as she walks past. With fear for her life, when she at last makes it into her apartment she’s confronted with damp conditions due to flooding caused by a boiler explosion in early December.

Amy said she’s done everything she can to convince Tuath Housing to solve these problems, but despite being promised “the moon and the stars” things are only getting worse. With a home she feels is not currently liveable due to damp and mould caused by the boiler incident, she now believes her only option is to speak to the media and let the people see what life is really like for council tenants at Burnell Place.

While the boiler itself was replaced, Amy said the structural damage to her property has not been addressed and water damaged flooring has been left to fester, the carpet was simply pulled up, and her bathroom is in ruins. “There’s no talk about getting the bathroom fixed, there’s holes in the boiler room. What good’s a new boiler when the whole place is freezing? Like genuinely, the place is freezing,” she said.

Amy has seen her electricity bills balloon to more than three times their normal size as she’s constantly using dehumidifiers and turning on the heat to alleviate the ongoing damp conditions and has seen her baby consistently fall ill with chest infections due to the cold. That’s not to mention the furniture and children’s Christmas presents which were destroyed by the incident.

“All my floors were damaged, an iPad, the furniture had to go because it is soaking and damp. 12 black bags of clothes. I had to replace her cot because it was so warped. I’m a lone parent and all these things cost money. The heating is constantly on because I have to dry out the place and the bills are through the roof.”

The flooding was so intense that it extended out into the hallway and caused significant damage to the other apartments on her floor. “Even before the boiler exploded, I rang and told them there’s things leaking in the bathroom.”

Following the incident, Amy and family were moved into temporary accommodation at a hotel for eight days before she was told she had to return to her home. She thought that this time away was so essential repairs could be carried out, but she arrived back and “nothing had been started.”

“They took up my carpet, which is out on my balcony now, and that’s all that has been done,” she said. “I thought the whole point of us coming home was because workers were coming out.”

Amy claims that, prior to the flooding, she paid thousands out of pocket for high-quality flooring in her home, and that after it was damaged she got a quote for the repairs to be carried out. However, she claims Tuath Housing said the quote was too expensive and the repairs have been delayed ever since.

Amy’s issues at Burnell Place extend far beyond the walls of her water-damaged apartment, as she’s consistently confronted with anti-social behaviour, open drug taking, arson attacks, and damaged property. Without a functioning elevator, she often feels like a prisoner in her own home as she must brave six flights of stairs with a pram under one arm and a baby in the other just to leave the house.

While there have been night-time security measures and the gardai are “forever here,” Amy says this isn’t enough to address safety concerns when non-residents can get past main entrance doors with a heavy shove. Amy said Tuath has told her they are investing in “security cameras with a swivel” but she does not feel this is enough when the building’s doors are not secure.

Amy has been personally victimized by the rampant anti-social behaviour at Burnell Place, her car was broken into and stolen from by individuals who gained easy access to the resident car park. “One young fella was roaming around, broke three cars, smashed up the windows, and was pissing on people’s hall doors.”

Car damaged by anti-social behaviour at Burnell Place car park Northern Cross

Doorbell camera footage viewed by Dublin Live has shown trespassers wandering the hall without clothes on, knocking on people’s doors, and sleeping in the hallway. “I was heavily pregnant and my son couldn’t get his bike past in the hallway, he said there’s people asleep,” Amy said.

“We have people lying on our stairs. We’re stepping over them coming downstairs. There’s bottles of urine, they’re sleeping in boxes and blankets on the stairs.

“You’re roaring at them telling them to get up, but they’re asleep. It got to the point where I was having my brother and dad stay here, but they say, ‘we can’t keep staying here, we have our own lives.’”

Amy’s next-door neighbour Sarah has been facing many of the same problems and has also had to deal with damp conditions due to the flooding incident. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg for her and she reveals that pest control had to be called out after rats started crawling along the inside of her walls.

“With the flood, I would have felt the impact of that as well but nobody has been near my front door. Nobody came to ask. They told me I’d get a dehumidifier to dry out the floor and it never came. The only reason I found out was because they said somebody was coming to take it back. We’re putting hundreds and hundreds of euros into pre-paid power,” she said.

As a mother of two girls, aged 4 and 9, Sarah says her children “just hate it here” and that it’s difficult to know how to explain “the tinfoil lining the halls” as young kids ask questions about the evidence of drug use they see on a daily basis. “You just have to push that door and you’re in. Honestly, I wouldn’t come in here alone late at night,” she said.

“It’s a free for all here. Anyone can come in or out. I have two kids and they hate it. There’s homeless people living outside our doors. You don’t want your kids growing up and see that. You don’t want them asking questions like ‘Why is that man sleeping outside my door?’” she said.

“It’s getting to the point where you’re trying to sleep but wondering, ‘What’s going on outside my hall door?”

Sarah stated that Dublin City Council and Tuath Housing should be responsible and that they have a right to feel safe and secure in their council homes. She said that while the apartments looked perfect when they moved in, it has been incredibly disappointing to watch its rapid deterioration over the past two years.

“I have mould all over my walls, my windows, everything. It’s only been two years. These were supposed to be our forever homes. Now I can’t wait to get out of here, It really affects you as a person and your mental health. If someone told me tomorrow, ‘I’m after getting my forever home with Tuath Housing,’ I would tell them to run a mile,” she said.

Many of the same complaints are felt by Tuath residents is echoed just a five-minute drive away at the Parkside complex. There, another mother has spent two years navigating a different kind of nightmare. For reasons of safety, the resident, who has asked to remain anonymous, claims her family’s life has been plagued by intense anti-social behaviour and direct threats.

While not a Tuath resident herself, this mother claims to have been victimised, stalked, and threatened by perpetrators of anti-social behaviour within Parkside. However, as she’s not a Tuath resident, this mother of two autistic children claims that she has had difficulties having her concerns addressed.

“I feel like I’m living in a horror movie. I look left and right when I’m walking out my front door. I feel like I’m in survival mode at the moment,” she said.

“They’ve threatened to slit my kids throat and petrol bomb my house. I’m really on my knees making myself sick with anxiety, distress, and trauma.

“My kids haven’t been outside in weeks. My older daughter left school because she was attacked while she was in the middle of doing her Leaving Cert.”

Although this tenant has been in contact with the gardai, the behaviour has not ceased and she feels like she’s being stalked.

“They should nip things in the bud before they get out of hand, and that’s not what they’ve done with me. If you’re a housing body you should have a duty of care to everyone around your tenants but because I’m not their tenant they won’t deal with me and now my last resort is to go to the media for help.”

She says that dealing with two children on the autism spectrum is difficult enough, but the lack of a stable living environment has caused intense psychological toil for her and children. The resident claims she has provided Garda Pulse numbers and documented a two-year pattern of abuse to the Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) team, but alleges she was told there was “not enough evidence” to act.

When contacted for comment a spokesperson from Tuath Housing stated:

“Tuath Housing lease’s the homes at Burnell Place where tenants have come from Dublin City Council’s Housing waiting list.

“We can confirm that flooding occurred at a property in Burnell Place on 11 December. Emergency contractors attended immediately, carrying out wet-vacuum works and draining the hot water cylinder. A full replacement of the hot water cylinder was completed on 16 December, restoring the system to full operation. Where required, affected residents were temporarily relocated, and dehumidifiers were installed in communal areas. Flooring contractors are currently arranging appointments directly with residents to replace damaged floors.

“Works relating to bathroom repairs and reported mould are ongoing.

“Separately, we are meeting our lift service engineers onsite tomorrow (Wednesday February 4th) to assess elevator performance issues across the development.

“In response to recent anti-social behaviour, as of 30 January 2026, our service provider has confirmed that all communal doors, car park access points, and pedestrian gates are fully operational. Tuath has also increased on-site security at Burnell Place and are also looking at a range of additional security measures.

“It is important to note that anti-social behaviour is a wider area issue and that Tuath is actively involved in the Belmayne–Clongriffin Network and the Northside Community Forum, working alongside local organisations, residents, housing providers, and statutory services to address community safety, anti-social behaviour, and resident wellbeing.

“Tuath manages a small number of homes in the larger Parkside developments. We work closely with An Garda Síochána and will take action if a breach of tenancy arises from a Garda investigation. We remain fully committed to doing everything within our remit to support Tuath tenants and the wider community in areas where we manage homes.”

Dublin City Council have also been contacted regarding conditions at Burnell Place and Parkside.

This content is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme

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