A woman whose home is infested with rats has said her family's lives are a “nightmare” and Cork City Council are ignoring their requests for help. 

Anita and Mohammed Mukthtar have lived in their council flat on Fort Street with their two children since 2013 and have had problems with the property for years. 

Despite this, the family claim the council has done little to help them with the serious issues they have raised. 

“Shortly after that problems started with the pipes in the toilet, leaking from the chimney,” Ms Mukthtar told Red FM’s Lana O’Connor.  

“We were calling the City Council, waiting, waiting, waiting but nobody came. 

“So, after a few years of waiting we decided to take out a loan to fix things because imagine every time you took a shower you came out from the toilet and there was leaking on the floor? 

“It’s not nice.” 

'We just had to do something'

Out of sheer desperation, the family applied for a €20,000 Credit Union loan three years ago. 

In theory, repairs are the responsibility of the council but Ms Mukthtar said officials “just ignored us” when they asked for help. 

“Well, we had to do something because we were waiting long enough,” she said. 

“It’s supposed to be our family home, so we just want to live in nice conditions and we decided we couldn’t wait anymore. 

“We just had to do something - we want to have a nice home.” 

The family had some of the pipes changed and fixed the walls in her younger son’s bedroom - which had cracks on them. 

Vermin move in

Since then, rats have moved into the insides of the flat’s walls and the Mukthtars can hear them scurrying around. 

“It’s just a nightmare - especially for my younger son,” Ms Mukthtar said. 

“He’s afraid of the noise [they make], he’s afraid to go to the toilet at night - this is not good for the kids. 

“We did as much as we could but dealing with the rats - that’s way too much.

“It’s not nice for kids to live in conditions like that.” 

When the family asked for help, the council sent out pest control in January who left them some traps. 

Eight months, the rats are still there and the family's requests for more help have gone unanswered. 

All in all, Ms Mukthtar said she is “thankful” they were allocated social housing but much rather move at this point.

Cork City Council has been contacted for comment.

Main image: A rat in a kitchen sink. Picture by: Alamy.com