It is not clear if the records are accurate, or whether a new system for tracking maintenance requests will allow tracking of how long it takes the council to fix things.
Dublin City Council's target is to fix urgent repairs in its social homes in fewer than five days.
But for Santry Cross, a big apartment complex in Ballymun, maintenance records list that 13 out of 59 urgent repairs over a 2.5 year-period, took six months or longer to close.
The average time until an urgent request is marked "job done" during this period was 97 days, the logs show.
That would suggest major shortcomings in basic council services. But any analysis of, and response to, those figures is frustrated is the fact that they might not be accurate.
Ursula Donnellan, a senior executive officer at the council, told the North West Area Committee this week that record keeping for maintenance is spotty.
Sometimes jobs are not closed off on the council's IT system even though the repair has been completed, she said. “We need to get people putting in the information in real time,” she says. “We are working on that.”
The council is set to launch a new computer system for logging maintenance requests, which the council press office indicated would be used to provide accurate timelines for repairs. Although it has been saying that for years.
Meanwhile, tenants in the apartment blocks at Santry Cross – where 22 of the more than 300 homes are social homes – say they are still plagued by leaks and dampness. The build was poor, with structural problems.
Council maintenance logs show hundreds of repairs reported between December 2023 and April 2026.
Jordyn Murray, a council tenant in Santry Cross, says that despite the efforts of council staff, the leaks and dampness in the complex are still really bad. “It looks like the walls are eroded,” she says.
She scrubs the mould around the doors and windows with white vinegar twice a week, she says. And runs a de-humidifier all day in winter, she says.
Dublin City Council staff have carried out work in her home, including putting new flooring on the balcony, installing some new radiators, and a smart system for the boiler, says Murray.
However some longstanding issues have not been resolved, she says. Crucially her hot water doesn’t work properly and she thinks this is driving up her electricity bill.
“The worker comes out, says he is the foreman, and tells you what needs to be done,” says Murray. “But getting them to actually do it is the problem.”
Another tenant in the complex Janine Melia says, that in recent times the council has fully upgraded her apartment and responded quickly to her concerns.
“In general, internal repairs are completed in accordance with Dublin City Council Tenants handbook”, said a Dublin City Council spokesperson. That is three to five working days for urgent repairs and up to eight weeks for routine repairs, he says.
Dublin City Council officials told councillors the same thing in a presentation to local area committees recently.
But without an accurate monitoring system, its hard to be sure. Some councillors said it is usually quicker, while others said they know tenants waiting much longer.
“There are currently no urgent outstanding repair requests for Santry Cross,” says the council spokesperson.
Murray says she is grateful for some work council staff have done recently, but she says some things she reported a long time ago have not been fixed.
Around six months ago, she reported an electrical fault because the electricity was tripping regularly, she says. Council staff came out and did some work on the fuse board, she says.
They also changed one radiator. But she still has a leaking radiator in the living room, she says, and a faulty boiler.
To get any hot water, Murray says that she has to leave the immersion on for a very long time, driving up her electricity bill. She currently owes €2,420 for electricity, she says.
“It has to be that – it is the only thing it could be,” she says. “Even throughout the day, we are not really here.”
She is grateful to have a place to live, but is also disappointed in her home, she says. “No one would accept these now.”
Five of the privately owned apartments in her complex are subject to prohibition notices, says Murray. That is a legal notice issued by the council, if a rental home is in an really poor condition, and the landlord hasn't carried out the works to fix it that the council has flagged as needed. Landlords cannot rent to new tenants until they complete those jobs.
Murray says she is worried she is developing sinus problems as a result of dampness.
“Why did the council buy these?” she says, “I don’t understand.”
Dublin City Council owns 22 homes, a counci spokesperson has said. It bought at least some of those under the tenant-in-situ scheme to prevent sitting tenants at risk of being evicted becoming homeless, but Murray was not one of those.
Melia says that since a previous article about the difficulties facing tenants in Santry Cross, in December 2024, the council has really upgraded her home.
They installed a new kitchen, serviced the boiler, installed a new smart heating system, too, she says.
They put in new doors too, and a new floor on the balcony. “I can’t complain,” says Melia “they upgraded everything.”
There is still some dampness, she says, but she thinks that is outside the control of Dublin City Council.
Dublin City Council gets around 73,000 maintenance requests a year, according to a presentation provided to local area committees at recent meetings.
These are usually fixed in three to five days for urgent repairs but can take up to eight weeks for routine repairs, said Donnellan.
At the North Central Area Committee, Social Democrats Councillor Jesslyn Henry and Sinn Féin Councillor Mícheál Mac Donncha said some tenants are waiting much longer for repairs.
“I have one lady who has been plugging her heating in for the last two and a half years,” said Henry. “Can’t set timers, can’t do anything.”
In Cromcastle Court, council tenants frequently have no hot water and at times no water at all, she said. She also knows a tenant who has waited nine months for new hinges on a window, which doesn’t open or close, said Henry.
Donnellan, the senior executive officer at the council, said that repairs shouldn’t take that long and offered to look into the cases Henry raised.
“You gave a couple of examples there, Councillor, that definitely should not still be outstanding,” she said.
“For a lot of the problems with maintenance, people have been waiting a lot longer than eight weeks,” said MacDonncha, the Sinn Féin councillor.
The tone was different in the Central Area Committee, as independent Councillor Nial Ring said that in his experience, the routine repairs are done within a week or two rather than eight weeks. “They are generally done extremely quickly,” said Ring.
At the North West Area Committee, Sinn Féin Councillor Anthony Connaghan asked how many of the 73,000 maintenance requests put in each year are completed, now.
Donnellan said she doesn’t know, the council can’t track that. Also, logs could be flawed because sometimes staff don’t close the job on the system, once it is completed, she says.
“Anecdotally, I’d like to think our percentage is up in the 90s,” she said.
Back at the North Central Area Committee meeting, Social Democrats Councillor Karl Stanley also awhether the council tracks outcomes. How many routine maintenance requests took longer than eight weeks to fix? he asked.
The maintenance logs for the council homes in Santry Cross show an average of 14 weeks across all requests between when a request was logged, and it was marked "job done".
At the meeting, though, Donnellan said the council didn't have the figures Stanley was looking for.
It is launching a new computer system, which will allow tenants to log their maintenance requests online, she said.
But she doesn’t think the new system will allow the council to track how long repairs took, she said. Although it could do that in the future, depending on other IT developments, said Donnellan.
However, the council spokesperson indicated that the new system will help to track outcomes.
“The current Housing Management IT system, which is in use for 20+ years, relies on a number of manual updates which can result in occasional discrepancies,” said the council spokesperson by email.
“These issues will be addressed with the implementation of a new Housing IT system, which will have enhanced functionality to streamline workflows and improve data quality, monitoring, and statistical reporting,” he said.
Also at the North West Are Committee, Social Democrats Councillor Mary Callaghan asked whether the council gives tenants an appointment for the repair, so they can ensure they are at home when council staff come.
“We’re very much aware that we are not perfect on this,” said Donnellan. Some depots are better than others, and she wants them all to communicate with tenants, she said.
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