{"id":609535,"date":"2026-08-30T20:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T20:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/609535\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T20:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T20:16:10","slug":"woman-who-sought-e8000-in-damages-for-silverfish-infestation-fails-in-rtb-case-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/609535\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman who sought \u20ac8,000 in damages for silverfish \u2018infestation\u2019 fails in RTB case \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A woman who sought \u20ac8,000 in damages for \u201cmental distress\u201d after allegedly encountering a silverfish \u201cinfestation\u201d in a rented Co Donegal<\/a> property has failed in an attempt to hold her former landlord liable.<\/p>\n

Noreen Alexander Whelan told a Residential Tenancies Board<\/a> (RTB) tribunal she moved out of the house in Ballybofey last August about four days after allegedly spotting one of the insects.<\/p>\n

She and her family had entered into a tenancy agreement with landlord Daniel McSorley about two weeks earlier.<\/p>\n

Alexander Whelan claimed the insects were in the bedroom, the en suite, the bathroom, the kitchen and the livingroom. She believed there was a \u201chigh risk\u201d of her belongings being contaminated by silverfish, which thrive in humid and damp environments and feed on materials such as paper, glue and clothing.<\/p>\n

She told the tribunal she and her family left the property \u201cwith only whatever clothes they were wearing\u201d, according to a RTB report on the case.<\/p>\n

After the family moved out, Alexander Whelan said they cleared out the house and disposed of two trailers \u201cfull of belongings\u201d at the local tip, including an air-fryer, though they left furniture behind as they did not wish to \u201ccontaminate anybody\u2019s van or house\u201d.<\/p>\n

Describing the alleged infestation as \u201cvery stressful\u201d, she told the tribunal she and her husband had to visit their doctor.<\/p>\n

She said there was also a \u201cfinancial burden\u201d in replacing the items they disposed of, telling the tribunal she wished to claim \u20ac8,000 in damages for their losses and \u201cmental distress\u201d.<\/p>\n

She submitted receipts totalling more than \u20ac1,100 for replaced items, and claimed she spent a further \u20ac1,000 on clothes for her daughters.<\/p>\n

The tenant submitted photos of the insects, though \u201conly five\u201d silverfish could be seen, the tribunal noted. Alexander Whelan said she did not wish to \u201calarm\u201d her daughters by taking photographs.<\/p>\n

Charlene Patton, McSorley\u2019s agent, told the tribunal a previous tenant who had been renting the house for several years \u201cnever reported a problem of an infestation\u201d. She said she was \u201cshocked\u201d when Alexander Whelan told her the day after they had left.<\/p>\n

Patton submitted an email from the previous tenant confirming he had seen \u201cone or two\u201d silverfish, but \u201cnot enough to bother reporting the issue\u201d.<\/p>\n

The agent said the house had been checked after the family vacated and claimed no silverfish were found.<\/p>\n

Alexander Whelan\u2019s claim for damages was not upheld by the tribunal. Although there was a \u201ccertain number\u201d of silverfish in the house, it said it was not convinced there was an \u201cinfestation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Noting it was not until the day after she and her family left the property that she notified Patton, the tribunal said the landlord was given no opportunity to react to the complaint.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhilst the presence of silverfish may cause a certain amount of disquiet, they are not harmful and they can be eradicated,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The tribunal said Alexander Whelan\u2019s decision to vacate without giving McSorley an opportunity to remedy the situation was \u201cher choice and, in the tribunal\u2019s view, was not a reasonable response\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman who sought \u20ac8,000 in damages for \u201cmental distress\u201d after allegedly encountering a silverfish \u201cinfestation\u201d in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[258214,258215,72,258216,258217,61,86015,60,258218,258219,258220,258221,258222,258223,258224],"class_list":["post-609535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-apterygota","tag-bindings","tag-business","tag-domestica","tag-fishmoth","tag-ie","tag-imago","tag-ireland","tag-lepisma","tag-saccarina","tag-saccharina","tag-silver-fish","tag-thermobia","tag-thysanura","tag-wingless"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609535","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=609535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}