{"id":359933,"date":"2026-03-22T21:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T21:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/359933\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T21:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T21:44:09","slug":"waterford-council-to-carry-out-examination-of-balconies-after-children-injured-in-fall-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/359933\/","title":{"rendered":"Waterford council to carry out examination of balconies after children injured in fall \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Waterford<\/a> City and County Council is to carry out examinations on balconies in an apartment complex on Monday, after two children were injured in a fall from a second-floor apartment balcony.<\/p>\n

Sister and brother Nevaeh (7) and Jayden (3) O\u2019Neill, fell from the balcony at Mount Suir apartments in Gracedieu on Friday.<\/p>\n

The siblings fell more than 20 feet to the ground when a pane of glass on the balcony railing crashed to the ground. They had been playing with two other siblings who were not injured.<\/p>\n

The children were taken by ambulance to University Hospital Waterford (UHW) for treatment of their injuries.<\/p>\n

Nevaeh suffered minor scratches and was discharged from hospital on Friday night and returned home to her parents Ryan O\u2019Neill and Regina Smith. <\/p>\n

Jayden returned home from UHW on Sunday after suffering a brain bleed.<\/p>\n

The family is currently living in the home of Ryan O\u2019Neill\u2019s mother. They are due to have a meeting with the council on Monday to outline future steps regarding accommodation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried to bring the little one up yesterday and she just freaked out and started crying,\u201d Ryan O\u2019Neill said.<\/p>\n

He said Jayden is struggling to walk following the fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis legs are gone from under him\u2026 He\u2019s really complaining about pains in his shoulders and arms. Hopefully he recovers now, he\u2019s just in really bad pain. He\u2019s trying to walk around\u2026 He\u2019s falling down sometimes, it\u2019s just terrible.\u201c<\/p>\n

Garda forensic teams examined the balcony from where the children fell.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the council said it has initiated a formal investigation around the circumstances of the incident and has reached out to the family to offer support.<\/p>\n

The council owns Block C of the Mount Suir apartment complex for the past six years.<\/p>\n

Located in the suburb of Carrickpherish outside of Waterford City, it has been the centre of complaints from tenants about poor standards of living for numerous years.<\/p>\n

A 2023 report had described the block \u201cas being in good condition.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Child (7) injured in fall from balcony in Waterford released from hospitalOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In 2025, Waterford City and County Council received 25 complaints from the tenants of the block\u2019s 18 apartments, largely outlining issues with chronic leaking.<\/p>\n

Originally developed by William Neville & Sons Ltd, the apartment block has been under the council\u2019s remit for six years. William Neville & Sons Ltd declined to comment on the incident.<\/p>\n

A 2023 report commissioned by the council and carried out by Doyle Morris Group said that barring recurring issues with leaks and mould, the property was in good condition.<\/p>\n

\"JaydenJayden and Nevaeh O’Neill (centre), who fell from a second-floor balcony in Waterford on Friday, with their father Ryan O’Neill, mother Regina Smith, and siblings Jaxson (far left) and Alliyah (far right). Photograph courtesy of Regina Smith <\/p>\n

The survey was visual only, and was limited to five apartments and the block\u2019s common areas.<\/p>\n

Doyle Morris\u2019 inspection of the apartment took place on June 29th 2023. The most common issues found were widespread growth of mould and algae on the exterior of tenants\u2019 units.<\/p>\n

Apartment No 4 of the block\u2019s timber scotia was \u201cin poor condition\u201d and \u201csoft to the touch\u201d. Corrosion to the nails of the apartment\u2019s skirting board was evident, while the dividing wall between the bedroom and bathroom was \u201csubstantially soiled with mould and dampness.\u201d <\/p>\n

The report noted that mushroom caps needed to be installed on the roof\u2019s soil vent pipes.<\/p>\n

Mould spread around extractor fans pointed to \u201cissues with the flexi ducts used to connect the fans to the central stack\/ external terminal.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the report, around 50 per cent of the apartments in Block C were extensively vandalised during the Covid lockdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe level and nature of complaints from individual apartments is similar to that pertaining to the council\u2019s overall housing stock,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe building is generally in good condition apart from particular instances where additional investigations are required to identify potential remedial action or improvements.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issues raised at Mount Suir have also highlighted that there is significant further education required in relation to tenant responsibilities in relation to ventilation, heating and energy use in apartments to avoid potential mould issues arising.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor of Waterford City and Council Labour councillor S\u00e9amus Ryan added that the council is fully investigating what happened. \u201cWe will get to the bottom of what happened.\u201d <\/p>\n

Those living in Block C have been informed by council officials to stay off their balconies until an inspection is carried out by them tomorrow. <\/p>\n

Local Sinn F\u00e9in councillor Jim Griffin had previously called for a task force to be created to deal with the long-standing issues at the apartment block.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I looked out and the whole glass just went\u2019: two children injured in balcony fall in WaterfordOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Waterford City and County Council is to carry out examinations on balconies in an apartment complex on Monday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43,6513,41846],"class_list":["post-359933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-waterford","tag-waterford-city-and-county-council"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}