The European Committee of Social Rights has deemed admissible a collective complaint by over 20 communities in Ireland about the state of some local authority housing.
Residents say they are living with dampness, mould, sewage and pyrite, which impacts on health and well being.
Aisling Kenny reports
Mary Cooney, lives in a local authority house in Balgaddy estate in Dublin.
The complex, which was built between 2004 and 2007, already has problems with dampness and mould.
"It's very stressful, the place always feels damp it's just a constant nightmare..."
She is one of a number of residents who brought a complaint to the European Committee of Social Rights, alleging that Irish law, policy and practices on social housing do not comply with European standards.
"My ceiling is just completely cracked in the middle from water that comes pouring in when it rains - its brown and there's a huge crack in it and the rain will come through the crack.
"The wallpaper bubbles and the paint bubbles and also on the left hand side of the sitting room where I only painted in October there is black mould all over that wall - up at the top and right down to the sitting room door," Mary says.
"It's very stressful, the place always feels damp it's just a constant nightmare," she says.
Mary is concerned about the impact the conditions are having on her and her son's health.
"It's like I'm constantly painting, cleaning, replacing furniture, floors and then I'm constantly wondering about the impact on my health, my son's health.
"My son has asthma - when he goes out of the house, he's fine and when he comes back into the house he starts coughing and he's coughing all night."
Mary who works full-time and pays rent says she finds it difficult to find the money to pay for leak repairs.
"When you've damp and mould in your house and water pouring in things have to be replaced so sometimes most of my wages goes on carpet rugs, carpet and paint. Sometimes it feels like you're working to replace everything in your house," she says.
"We had a structural engineer come out to check 40 houses that had bad conditions in Balgaddy, and he said yes there was structural problems in those houses that needed to be done straight away, and that report was given to south Dublin County Council."
In a statement, South Dublin County Council said Balgaddy did have some defects in doors and windows when first built, but it said these have now been fixed.
It also said there is no systemic construction problem, but it said the council would continue to fix any faults that arise in the future.
The council said the damp and mould at Balgaddy, is due to vents being closed, along with excessive water vapour from cooking, washing and clothes drying.
"Individual tenants are left to live with these conditions in a very isolated way..."
Spokesperson for Community Action Network, Cecilia Forrestal, has been involved in gathering evidence to back up the complaint.
She says the dire conditions, which some local authority tenants are forced to live in, is a violation of their human rights and health.
"The biggest scandal is that individual tenants are left to live with these conditions in a very isolated way. There is no collective representative organisation for them at all," Ms Forrestal says.
"They are discriminated against because if they were in private rented accommodation they would have an independent complaints body, they would have access to independent inspections and they would have some sort of complaints procedure where they could draw attention to their plight - they don't have any of that," she says.
The complaint before the European Rights Committee, also tells the story of failed regeneration at Dolphin House in Dublin.
Phase one of the process has been delayed several times and is now two-and-a-half years behind schedule.
There are 392 apartments in the complex and over 100 of those have been vacated to accommodate the regeneration.
"It's like the goal post keeps getting pushed further and further away..."
Debbie Mulhall, who is a lifelong resident of the estate, is one of the tenants who moved from their homes:
"It's like the goal post keeps getting pushed further and further away and as a resident its very hard for us.
"For me I genuinely thought I'd only be three years out of my home and now I'm already a year out and there is still people living where I used to live."
Debbie says its extremely difficult for the residents who are still living in Dolphin house:
"There are going to their wardrobe and their clothes are full of mould and obviously the smells in their home - it's actually embarrassing for people.
"There is damp conditions in the home and everybody knows that does cause problems with respiratory (system) and when that happens children can't go to school."
In a statement, the Department of the Environment said it expects the demolition and construction works at Dolphin House to begin late this year or early next year.
Meanwhile, Debbie is concerned that the delays will cause long term damage the community.
"You're leaving your memories behind, as I said I was born and reared in Dolphin House but there people that's 50 years living there.
"Can you imagine what it's like for that person leaving that home, they've had their children there, there grandchildren there probably their great-grandchildren.
"We are a very strong knit community, people want to live there, and at the end of the day people aren't living there free - there is a lot of people living in Dolphin House that have employment and your rent goes on what your actually earn so some people are paying €100 a week to live in these conditions.
"If I was a private tenant my landlord would have to fix those conditions for me and I guarantee you they'd be fixed a lot quicker than they are now," Debbie says.
Listen to an audio version of this report from RTÉ's Morning Ireland here.
