How to find your local politician?

Thanks all!

Do you think they are the correct people to contact about serious neighbour domestic incidents?
I am afraid the Gardai won’t be able to help this situation and I am looking for the next place to turn.

I fear for the mental health and wellbeing of my neighbour’s. Last night’s incident confirmed my worst fears and I need to try get some kind of help for them.
 
A politician is only going to be able to lean on someone else to do their job.

If you could elaborate a little about the nature of the problem people might be able to point you in the right direction.
 
Well if the Gardai can do nothing, what do you expect a politician to do? They will tell you to contact the Gardai.
 
The neighbours are living in total squalor. Rubbish about 1 foot high on the floor, months and months of unopened post in the doorway, overgrown garden and ~30 rats/hamster running around freely.
The lady appears to have a serious mental illness, she never leaves the house, doesn’t wash or dress and has episodes of what can only be described as ‘demonic’ incidents.
Whereby she wails, screams and shouts obscenities for up to 8 hours at a time. The screams can be heard through out our whole house and from the street. I can only equate these episodes to scenes from the exorcist.

The gardai forced entry last night and appeared to be visibly shaken by what they saw in the house. They said they will follow up today by I want to know what I can do if they can’t help….
 
We have 'left them to it' for months now. The incidents are bone chilling and it is seriously affecting me... i cant sleep. I am very worried about what is going on in there...

I would have been very much of the opinion that it is none of my business when it wasnt happening to me but now it is and I would like to know my options.
 
glowinthedar said:
Thanks truthseeker.

What are the circumtances under which someone can be sectioned?
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In my (limited) experience in this area I have found that sectioning someone is not as easy as one might think.

If this lady lives alone she has presumably (to this point) been able to eat and stay warm (ie, she is not on the street or dead) its quite possible that she just needs some support from social services (a home help or meals on wheels etc...) to be able to carry on.

If the lady does not live alone then I suppose its a question of whether or not whoever is caring for her IS actually caring for her.
If the lady is coherent enough to make decisions (even though they may not be in her own best interests) there is a good chance she can insist she is happy as things are and that she wants people to leave her alone.

Really the public health nurse is a good first place to call, you can explain the situation and let her know the guards have been involved. The guards will probably assign a social worker who can liase with the public health nurse. Hopefully that will help bring some resolve to the situation.

You dont mention if there are other people there who should be helping out, or if there are any regular visitors.

Another option that I have used in the past is letting the parish priest know, he could hopefully call and then he would also be someone who might consider getting onto social services.

I appreciate that you would like to see this situation sorted, and you are to be commended for that, but be aware - the neighbours family may resent interference (even with good intention), and it is extremely difficult to get good practical help from social services in certain situations (or at least this has been my experience).
 
The lady lives with a man that equally seems to have issues but not to the same extent of the lady.

The man leaves for days at a time, who knows where. We know that mans mother owns the house but she is now living abroad.

They have *some* visitors but they never answer the door... never. With the result that people call in to my house to ask what the story is with them. Those people are also concerned at the state of the house.... also they never mention that a lady lives there only a man.

I have said to a few that a lady also lives there but they never know of her. :confused:
 
What kind of ages are they?

Do you think its mental illness related or something else?

Reading between the lines Im wondering if its a drugs thing?
If so you can only leave it with the guards.

For some reason from your initial post I was under the impression it was an elderly person (dont know why).

Have you approached the man and spoken to him about the noise (demonic screaming)? Just a suggestion, he must be aware that the neighbours can hear it?

Or what about next time he is away if the screaming starts you could call the guards up and they would break in to see whats going on?

Or next time a visitor calls to you ask them whats going on and see can they contact family of the people in the house.

Keep in mind that the things you perceive may not really be the case, you mentioned in an earlier post that the woman doesnt wash or dress - unless youre in the house with her you couldnt possibly know that. So be careful if you are speaking to social services or the guards, dont infer what you cant know.

If you are more worried about the situation from the perspective that your peace is being disturbed you can contact your local dept of the environment to find out how to proceed with a case for noise pollution.

I think if things are as bad as you say then the guards will follow up. Dreadful under resourcing for this type of thing though, i wouldnt expect a sudden influx of men in white coats to assess things.
 
Thanks for the response truthseeker.

I firmly believe that they both have mental issues. With the lady being very very sick. The lady is in her mid-20's and the man in his late 30's.

We have tried to call in and talk to them but as i have sadi they do no open the door making that option near impossible.

With regards to 'Keep in mind that the things you perceive may not really be the case, you mentioned in an earlier post that the woman doesnt wash or dress - unless youre in the house with her you couldnt possibly know that'
The gardai said the lady had no clothes on and had filthy black hands and feet with really long nails. :confused:

I swear I could'nt even make this stuff up :(

I hope to hear from the Gardai by the end of the week.
 
In my opinion you have done enough ------leave it to the Gardai from now on .

You getting involved will not help , unless you are related ......believe me
 
If there is a significant issue in relation to public health(and you reference to rats etc suggests there is), forget the gardai, shouting in your own house is probably not an offence. Instead contact the local council immediately. If you can identify some of the local councilers in the area, suggest you speak to them also. They may be able to point you in the direction and remember there are local elections next year so they may be anxious to help you!!!
 
If the guards found the woman in that state they will have to follow up.

I didnt mean that I thought you were making things up :)
Just that it can be easy to infer things based on little information, and sometimes the truth turns out to be different.

Out of curiosity - what do you think is supposed to be going on in there? Where did the woman come from? Could they be related? Is he supposed to be minding her?

A local politician may be the best person to follow up with the guards and get the correct local authority figures involved.

Have you followed up with the guards yourself since they did enter the house? What was the trigger for them to call in?

Its difficult to distinguish what is actually going on, its possible the lady has some kind of mental illness, the man is supposed to be looking after her but is overwhelmed by it all and cant do it. No one knows what is supposed to be the situation.

Alternatively there is a chance there is something sinister going on, and perhaps this woman is not supposed to be in this situation.

But as a concerned neighbour (whether or not your concerns stem from the safety of the woman or your annoyance at ongoing exorcist type screaming) I think youve probably done anything useful you can do.
 
We called the Gardai as after 3hrs of exorcist screaming we had enough and based on previous experience it can go on for hours and hours.

The man and woman are not related, they used to work together AFAIK.

The gardai came out saying there is "something weird going on in that house, we cant put our finger on it but the man was trying to hush us out like he was trying to hide something" and said they will follow up as the lady mentioned her sister was also a guard.
They also said that it was like she had 3 different voices and they had never seen the like of it before.

I think that is the part that gets to me out the most... the fact that the gardai were freaked out by what they saw.
 
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