Father and son live in an abandoned bus in Cork

by



[ad_1]

Sleeping face to face as rats sneak under their “bed” at night, Patrick Walsh and his disabled son Adrian are deathly afraid of winter.

Patrick has lived on an abandoned bus at a site outside Blarney in Cork for about four years and became Adrian’s sole caretaker since his son joined him there more than a year ago.

Their clothes have to be replaced regularly because they are eaten by vermin that also find their way into the fridge and freezer.

When the river overflows, it gushes out from under his bus “as strong as a train” and the windows, although now replaced, exploded once this year already during summer storms.

Last winter, it was so cold that Patrick couldn’t move his fingers or toes, and he fears they might die if they stay on the bus much longer.

“We’ll probably freeze to death if we’re here this winter,” said Patrick, 63.

“I put wooden blocks by the door to prevent rats from entering, but they eat everything.”

The bus where Patrick and Adrian Walsh live. Image: Larry Cummins
The bus where Patrick and Adrian Walsh live. Image: Larry Cummins

Like many homeless stories, Walsh’s is not simple. They have made mistakes in life, but they have also suffered terrible tragedies.

Two of Patrick’s children, a daughter and a son, died at age 25 before Adrian, now 37, suffered a serious brain injury when he fell off a bridge that he was scaling as a shortcut to his home in Wales roughly ago. three years.

His brain injury causes him to suddenly pass out, which has already happened in the river three times, nearly drowning him.

“You have to watch it [Adrian] all the time, “Patrick said.

“I can’t leave him near the road, he just goes out, he never thinks about looking left or right. Two of our dogs have already been killed there. It makes me very nervous.”

Patrick became Adrian’s sole caretaker after his mother died suddenly at home this summer.

Patrick once rode the bright yellow ‘Old Mill’ bus where they now live to attend pub sessions in Donoughmore, not knowing that he would one day begrudgingly call it ‘home’.

Washing dishes in dirty river water, not having clean clothes, and having to go out in the dark to use the bathroom at night with a flashlight are some of Patrick’s most hated daily tests that come with life on the bus.

Adrian Walsh and his father Patrick have been living on a disused bus by the river just 15 minutes from Cork city center for the past four years.
Adrian Walsh and his father Patrick have been living on a disused bus by the river just 15 minutes from Cork city center for the past four years.

The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul regularly brings you gas cylinders and food baskets and yesterday they brought you a pot.

An SVP volunteer who has been trying to help the family said: “This is one of the saddest cases I have come across.

“It’s frustrating for us trying to get someone to get up and help.”

One of the apparent impediments to finding accommodation at City Hall has been an 850 euro debt owed for rent arrears since 2013, before Adrian’s life-changing accident.

An agreement must be reached to clear the arrears before it can be considered for municipal housing, something SVP said they would try to help him with.

But the SVP volunteer said the brain injury has made Adrian a different person and that “the new Adrian should not be punished for the old Adrian’s actions.”

Volunteer SVP said: “We really hope someone can donate a mobile home or caravan, ideally on one site, so it can be in a safer place during the winter.”

Meanwhile, father and son continue to wash in the frozen river they share with the water rats and use a bucket as a toilet in a nearby shed.

Junk / repair mowers and commercial vehicles abandoned in the yard where Patrick and Adrian Walsh live in an old yellow minibus, with no running water or mains electricity. Image: Larry Cummins
Junk / repair mowers and commercial vehicles abandoned in the yard where Patrick and Adrian Walsh live in an old yellow minibus, with no running water or mains electricity. Image: Larry Cummins

They turn on their television with the engine of their truck and go to bed at 9 pm because they have no electricity.

“It’s a horrible place,” Adrian said.

But despite his difficulties, Adrian’s face lights up in a huge smile when he talks about his father.

“It’s a diamond,” he says.

A spokesperson for the Cork City Council said it cannot comment on individual cases.

But neither Adrian nor his father have an open housing application with the Cork City Council and neither have come forward to the Cork City Council Housing Placement Service in search of emergency accommodation since one of them left a placement with a provider. of housing last year, they said.

The spokesperson added: “The family may request a new assessment of their housing need from the Department of Housing Assignments, based on being a normal resident or having a local connection with the administrative area of ​​the City Council, as specified in the 2012 Regulation.

The courtyard where Patrick and Adrian Walsh live in an old yellow minibus, without running water or electricity from the mains. Image: Larry Cummins
The courtyard where Patrick and Adrian Walsh live in an old yellow minibus, without running water or electricity from the mains. Image: Larry Cummins

“Families are not eligible for social housing if they were previously in default with the City Council. A manageable payment plan would have to be agreed upon first.

“Unfortunately, the Cork City Council cannot offer accommodation to qualified applicants who are unable to live independently, until an outside agency takes care of the necessary supports for them to live independently. Cork City Council works well with such agencies. “.

Councilor Kieran McCarthy said there are people in the City Council who want to help and urged the men, and the charities that already support them, to contact Cork City Council immediately.

[ad_2]