Babs (86) delighted with new railings after six-month wait
AN 86-year-old Ballycullane woman who needed railings installed to prevent her from falling at her back door has criticised Wexford County Council for failing to provide them as a matter of urgency.
Barbara (Babs) Mooney fell one night during last winter as she tried to go out her back door. Fortunately a neighbour who heard her dogs barking and saw the lights on came in and got her back on her feet.
Ms Mooney, who runs the Sunset Appeal charity which spays and neuters cats and dogs, said it took two years for her to get the railings for her council house.
‘ The service was very poor. Having been approved it took six months to get them.’
Ms Mooney availed of a department-funded Disabled Persons Adaption Scheme which provides funding to local authorities to carry out small adaption works to a house so that an elderly or less-abled tenant can enjoy a better quality of life in their home. Eligible works include ramps, railings, concrete paths and internal works such as level access showers, etc.
Ms Mooney furnished the local authority with letters from her doctor outlining her need for the railings.
‘I can run in and out and chase the dogs without breaking my neck now,’ she said, adding that she has up to 15 animals with her in her house at any one time.