It is understood that one of the areas the departmental working group has been examining is the issue of power of entry.įamily's heartbreak over death of man whose body lay in Mallow house for 20 years “We did our best to try and find him, but we hit a dead end every time.” He said the fact that it was private property prevented council officials from entering until it decided to use derelict sites and CPO legislation. “We went to great lengths to try to find him, including exploring rumours that the house had been bought by a group which helps house ex-pats moving back to Ireland. “Neighbours could see vermin inside the house, the people next door only knew his first name, and the property wasn’t registered,” he said. Mr O’Shea made extensive local enquiries in a bid to trace the owner of the house before he formally raised the broken window as an issue with council officials. “All we knew was that this man was called Tim, and that he may have had a mental health difficulty, which the family said was not true,” he said. It was later determined through dental records that the remains were those of Tim O'Sullivan. Mr O’Shea, who had been working on this issue before his formal written complaint to council officials, said this tragic case, while thankfully rare, highlights the complexities involved in addressing dereliction, and the individual and often tragic human stories behind each case.Ī bouquet of flowers at 9, Beecher St, Mallow, Co Cork on Sunday January 15, 2023, a few days after human remains were found in the house. It’s believed Mr O’Sullivan died peacefully in bed. Such was the advanced state of decomposition, the cause of death could not be established but foul play was ruled out. Documents found in the house allowed gardaí to narrow down the time of death to sometime in January 2001. The remains were identified using dental records. It was only then, last January, when council workers forced open the door, that Mr O’Sullivan’s skeletal remains were found in a bed inside the abandoned house. More complaints about vermin were made and the council decided to make a forced entry to the house to allow a pest control firm access the property. The staff who boarded it up had no reason or authority to enter it at the time, the inquest was told.įollowing ongoing complaints from neighbours about vermin infestation, the council planned a clearance of the rear yard but when the site was inspected, lack of access to the rear prevented the work from being carried out. The inquest into Mr O’Sullivan’s death heard how Mr O’Shea emailed local county council officials on Decemexpressing concerns about a broken window at 9 Beecher St and asked if ownership of the property could be established.Ĭork County Council said ownership could not be established and that by January 21, 2015, it had boarded up all the windows and the letter box.
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