Residents of a west Dublin housing complex who awoke to flooding in their homes and ceilings collapsing, have claimed serious structural defects in the development were the cause.

Samantha Dooley, a local community activist who organised a meeting of residents from Ongar Crescent and neighbouring complexes in?Dublin 15 last Monday, said they had long-standing problems with the properties, built by one of the state's largest construction firms, Manor Park Homes (MPH) in 2004 and 2005. These include insufficient soundproofing, poor drainage, and wider structural defects such as crumbling of outside stairways and cracks appearing in walls.

But she said residents were shocked at the extent of the flooding which occured over Christmas, including the middle of St Stephen's night.

"Residents were going out knocking on everybody's door. It was a nightmare. Ceilings had crashed down in some of the apartments and the fire brigade came. You could see the wooden beams and everything."

Since the flooding, she said MPH had sent in contractors to fix the three ceilings which collapsed but claimed this was only a "patch-up" job which did not address what residents believe is a more serious structural problem.

Dooley said residents from 15 properties attended last Monday's meeting, but there were many others affected who did not attend the meeting.

"Everybody else with leakage damage has had nothing done. My apartment is only six years old but you would think it is 30 years old," she said. "People were using big bins and buckets to stop the water going onto their carpets. In some places it was coming through the fire alarms in the ceiling, and it has come through people's lightbulbs.

"My place was leaking right next to the electricity box. A lot of renters are moving out because of what has happened. MPH has said it was because people left their taps running but this does not explain it. It has just made people even more furious."

MPH did not respond when contacted for its views on residents' concerns. But local Labour councillor Patrick Nulty, who attended Monday night's meeting, called for a full independent investigation to establish what exactly caused the problems in the Ongar properties.

"I do think MPH has questions to answer. It should be doing more for the residents. These are people who bought properties at the height of the housing bubble," he said. "I've heard residents voicing concerns. This is yet another reason why we need a full and thorough investigation into all of the issues around Ongar."