Lift failure leaves residents trapped after Council nails basement exit shut

A terrifying incident requiring a fire brigade rescue has exposed long-standing maintenance issues at a Liberties Dublin City Council complex, where a broken lift has left vulnerable residents isolated and fearful to leave their homes

A broken lift in a Liberties council complex left residents trapped after Dublin City Council nailed a basement exit shut.

Following a recent incident where residents were trapped in the basement with the exit door nailed shut, tenants at the Timberyard complex on Cork Street are demanding action on maintenance issues that have persisted for years . Without reliable access to the elevator, neighbours have had no choice but to carry tenants down stairs, in a manner that poses serious health and safety risks.

Dublin Live became aware of the severity of the situation last week after council tenant Denise and her 14-year-old granddaughter were trapped in the basement following intense rainfall that saw many Dublin streets flooded. After being caught in the rainstorm, Denise was eager to get home as she and her granddaughter entered the elevator to get to their fourth floor apartment.

When Denise got in the lift and pressed the button an all too familiar story played out as, rather than take them up, the elevator went down the minus one basement floor before becoming out of order. The pair then prepared to make the five storey journey up the various staircases only to find they were unable to exit the basement at all, as it had been nailed shut by the council as a response to anti-social behaviour.

Denise told Dublin Live it felt like a scene from a horror movie as her “terrified” granddaughter sobbed and they tried to think of what to do. Denise pushed the door but “it didn’t budge” and she saw the handle was on the ground.

The pair went back to wait in the lift, as it occasionally kicks back into operation and could release them. But Denise says emotions ran high in the enclosed space and they stepped out of the lift, only to then watch it go back up with nobody in it and leave them totally stranded.

Without much phone coverage, Denise was eventually able to get in contact with Dublin Fire Brigade - and that’s when she learned the door had been nailed shut. Responders ultimately had to break it down to release them.

At this stage, neighbours in the building agreed it was time to speak out as they feel their continual pleas through official channels for it to be fixed properly have been side-lined for years. When Dublin Live visited the complex, the maintenance concerns were clear, as it was possible to simply push open the main entrance door without any fob or code needed.

As already outlined by tenants, the elevator was stuck at minus one and those living there revealed the true impact of the problem. Olive is in her 80s and has lived at the Timberyard complex since it was built in 2009.

Suffering from several medical issues, Olive relies on a mobility scooter to get around and says the burden of having her husband Pat or grandchild help her traverse the staircase makes her reluctant to leave the house at all. "The problem is the lift is out of order all the time and we can't get out. I've been in for three weeks without getting out,” she said.

“I'm stuck here all the time, because my scooter is heavy and you can't carry it up and down. We went out Wednesday morning, very cheerful for some fresh air and our lunch. Pressed the button, out of order. We had to go back in, that's what it's like all the time. I'm missing appointments, dentists, I had an appointment this morning for the doctor and I had to ring them and tell them I can't go.”

To some a broken lift means a small inconvenience, but tenants like Olive and Pat, it means a total loss of independence. “I'm not exaggerating, but this really is the worst time in my life,” she said.

Olive no longer goes to her regular bingo night and says if it wasn’t for watching tennis on the television she would have “gone mad”. Pat also had own medical issues to deal with, having had two bypasses and suffered a stroke last year.

Despite this, he helps Olive getting down the stairs when she needs to attend important appointments but she fears “something is going to happen to him” as a result. "It's getting to the point we're not putting up with it anymore, we're going to fight this. We're going to fight this," she said.

“If they took notice, this would have been fixed a long time ago. It shows you that they don't care, you know what I mean? It shouldn't be like that, they should look after the old and the disabled people.”

Pat says when he tries to ring the council “they just fob you off” and they can never get clear information or timelines for when things will be fixed . This becomes extra frustrating considering Pat’s claims that there are nearby ground floor apartments that have laid vacant for years on end. “They don’t know who their tenants are or what apartments are vacant,” he said.

Olive and Pat aren’t the only ones at Timberyard who have to think twice about leaving the house, as James spoke about the challenges his wheelchair bound sister Carol faces everyday. When the lift is out of order, James and various neighbours must risk their own safety and carry her up and down four flights of stairs.

He claims, at one point, the lift was broken for six weeks straight and he had to carry his sister in her wheelchair up the stairs entirely on his own. “The lift was working yesterday for an hour, a fella came and fixed it, and within an hour it was gone again,” he said.

"Most of us here depend on the lift, that's it. The lift is the most important thing to get up and down the stairs. Many can't get out without the lift."

View 3 Images Olive's mobility scooter is too heavy for elderly residents to carry up and down the stairs

Luckily, those at Timberyard have a strong sense of community and are on hand to look out for one another - but accidents have happened. One tenant named Tracie spoke about falling on the concrete stairs and ending up in A&E with knee problems because she couldn’t access the lift.

Another resident named Ingrid revealed she’s already worrying how they will manage Christmas when her parents, who are in their 80s, will be coming to visit. “I have Christmas at my house, but I’m worried my ma and da won’t be able to get up the stairs,” she said.

Ultimately, these residents have been let down by Dublin City Council according to Labour Councillor Darragh Moriarty, who has been campaigning for the maintenance problems to be resolved permanently. “Just the stories you hear, it can have such a debilitating effect,” the South West Inner City rep said.

“These are people who require getting out of their homes to get to medical appointments. You have Olive being carried down the stairs by her grandson in an undignified way and neighbours having to chip in. It is far from good enough.”

Cllr Moriarty stated that he’s been in contact with council and that lift inspectors have visited the complex to investigate the issue. But he believes the result has been “patching up the problem” rather than providing the urgent, emergency repairs that are needed.

He has heard reports of water entering the lift in periods of heavy rainfall which appear to be worsening the problems. “Someone comes out to fix it and within half an hour of that van pulling off the lift is gone again,” he said.

The true ramifications of these malfunctions came to a head when Denise and her granddaughter got trapped in the basement according to Cllr Moriarty. This demonstrates a fundamental lack of communication with tenants who should have had prior warning that the door had been closed off.

Cllr Moriarty stated he has had “apologies from the council” and that a staff member was ordered to close off the door “due to reports of anti-social and criminal behaviour”. With the main entrance door “open at all times,” he expressed concern that the fob access has been “broken for a long time”.

“Rather than nailing the door shut, which is the only means of escape from when the lift breaks down, maybe work on fixing the door at the complex,” he suggested.

He said residents have been frustrated by these concerns for “a number of years” but they have “never seen it this bad”. With a lift that is “utterly unreliable,” he believes the first step should be to stop the elevator going to minus one when it’s out of order as even when the door isn’t nailed shut, residents like Olive and Carol would still be trapped due to the stairs.

“The very steps that were supposed to act as the means of escape were nailed shut by Dublin City Council themselves. It’s shocking and I’ve asked for a full review of how that decision got made and a commitment that it would never happen again. That lessons are learned and people are held accountable for that.

“Ultimately Dublin City Council Fire Brigade had to go out and break down that door. They could have been called to something else more urgent, but they were out knocking down a door the council themselves nailed shut.”

When contacted for comment, a spokesperson from Dublin City Council stated:

"Housing Maintenance is aware of the lift malfunction incident referred to which took place on Thursday 27th August 2026. On the same date it had been reported to Housing Maintenance that the service door to the pumphouse / plant room had been vandalised. The door in question is generally only for use by maintenance personnel. It was necessary to temporarily secure the door to prevent unauthorised access to the plant room until a replacement locking mechanism was fitted the next day Friday 28th August. It was unfortunate that the lift malfunction occurred on the same date leading to the necessary emergency action by Dublin Fire Brigade.

"The abnormal recurring malfunction of the lift is being fully investigated by Housing Maintenance - Electrical Services in consultation with the relevant lift engineering specialist. When an underlying cause is identified the necessary remedial work will be carried out to ensure that disruption to residents by further incidents of lift malfunction is minimised."

This content is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme

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