John O’Donnell, who cannot read or write and has never had a home, worked in the slaughterhouse by day as a younger man and slept in the canteen at night. When it later closed down, he remained in the derelict site with his dog.
Paddy O’Brien, an advocate for the elderly in Cork, took on his case and approached Cork City Council about finding housing for Mr O’Donnell. The derelict site was falling in to complete disrepair and its roof was leaking.
However, he admitted it would take him time to get used to his new surroundings. “I have never had a fireplace so I am not sure about cleaning it out. He said that his old home was “horrendous and shocking”. He suffers from asthma and was finding it increasingly hard to breathe in the derelict property.
“I wonder how many more Johns are there. Not just in Cork but in the entire country. It was an appalling situation that a man was living out there for so long without anybody doing anything about it.
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