After builder goes into liquidation, Crumlin social housing project stalls out

All four shopfront shutters were down at numbers 47 to 53 Keeper Road in Crumlin on Tuesday morning.

Paintwork outside the closed businesses – once a tanning salon, a deli and a creche – was peeling, and the first-floor windows were boarded up.

The properties, 47, 47b, 49, 51 and 53 have been slated by Dublin City Council for demolition for almost five years now.

In November 2021, developer Teabrook Limited received the council's approval to knock what is there, and to build 41 apartments, alongside a brand new creche and shop.

Once built, the homes were to be bought by Oaklee Housing and turned into social homes, says a council report from September 2025, not long before councillors sold to Teabrook Ltd a nearby strip of nearby council land at half-price to help the project.

But, any possibility of the project progressing was thrown into uncertainty when, on 27 April, the High Court appointed a provisional liquidator to Teabrook Ltd, court records show.

The 41 homes are among 683 new social homes planned between now and 2029 for the South East Area. The area has, show council reports, the slimmest pipeline of social homes in the coming years of all five city administrative areas.

So, the set-back hurts the council's efforts to provide social homes, and leaves it with legal complexities over a past land disposal, and local site management risks, Independents 4 Change Councillor Pat Dunne said in a motion tabled at the South East Area Committee on Monday afternoon.

The council should acquire the site and fast-track its development, Dunne said at the meeting. “It is the only way that we will have housing on this site anytime soon.”

The liquidator of Teabrook Ltd determines what happens to these properties, said the council executive’s reply to Dunne’s motion. But, should the site be put up for sale, the council will consider buying it, they said.

That could take years, Dunne said. “Liquidations often do. Let’s be proactive, and let’s get onto the liquidator and ask them what their plan is and express an interest.”

Slow, slow

Back in October at the full monthly council, Dunne had voiced frustration around the pace with which Teabrook Ltd had been moving to redevelop the site at Keeper Road.

The site has been derelict for years, he said at the meeting. “Can you do everything possible to ensure construction starts for the much needed housing development?”

At that meeting, councillors agreed to dispose of a laneway to the rear of the 47 to 53 Keeper Road for Teabrook to incorporate into the development.

In January, Teabrook had applied to extend its planning permission on the site.

The clock was due to run out on its existing permission in February 2027, said Teabrook Limited in its application. Enabling works would start on 1 May 2026, it said, and the homes would be done in June 2028.

In March, the application to extend the planning permission for three years was approved by the council. But, the application notes, that extension lapses if works don't start before 19 February 2027.

In April, Teabrook Limited went into liquidation.

Housing is badly needed on the site, said Dunne, the councillor, at the area committee meeting on Monday. “But, as importantly, the residents on Keeper Road are looking at a derelict site for the last six, seven years. Totally unacceptable.”

The council should now step in with approved housing body Oaklee Housing CLG to acquire the site, he said. And turn them into social homes, as was the plan.

It’s a turnkey development, Dunne said, speaking by phone on Tuesday. “Once built, Oaklee would buy it.”

A spokesperson for Oaklee said they have engaged with the council on the situation at Keeper Road following Teabrook Ltd’s liquidation. “This engagement has focused on the current status of the site and the potential for social housing to be delivered there.”

Ruth Dowling, the council's executive manager for housing delivery, said council officials will approach Oaklee and the liquidator about their positions on the site. “But I can’t make any guarantees or promises around it, because obviously there may be issues around it.”

She couldn't guarantee that the council could buy it, she said.

Dunne’s motion was agreed.

Co-ordinating projects

On Tuesday, Dunne said that there is an opportunity to link up the development at Keeper Road with one just next door.

The former Father Lar Redmond Community Centre is slated for redevelopment too, he said.

On Tuesday morning, the single-storey hall was cordoned off by steel fencing, with a lock on its gate. Moss grew on the concrete outside the front entrance, and a few shaggy pigeons huddled together on its roof.

Respond Housing was granted approval by the council in October 2024 to build a five-storey block with 18 flats on the site, according to the July 2025 South East Area manager’s report.

At that time, the approved housing body was in the process of preparing a pre-tender cost estimate, the report says. “It is expected this will be completed by September 2025.”

Both of these developments should’ve been going ahead simultaneously, Dunne said on Tuesday, and they should be linked. “They shouldn’t be managed separately. That’s the best way of proceeding.”