In the north inner-city, tenants of 15 years evicted so council can buy their home
Dublin City Council is buying 40 homes in the Northbank apartments. It is not clear how many tenants have been evicted for the deal to proceed.
Those proposing the move said the council had agreed to a plan with 768 homes, but now Bartra is pursuing a denser, taller development. Those opposing it said it couldn’t legally be done.
The plans call for the current 113 old homes, many of which are now empty and boarded up, to be replaced with 163 new ones.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council decided in 2019 not to build housing for Travellers on the site, saying it planned to sell it. Now it’s back to housing again.
They voted to approve a draft proposed by council managers, after making a few relatively small amendments that they said residents want.
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien last year asked local authorities to stop enforcing the “local connection” rule. But now it’s back, says one charity CEO.
Now, however, two large providers of purpose-built student accommodation in Dublin say they are all booked out.
It’s a problem the government will have to navigate as it rolls out a promise to introduce minimum BER ratings for private rentals by 2025, “where feasible”.
Councillors said some sites are being used as open space, or green space, or parking – and they worry rezoning won’t get affordable homes built anyway.
Councillors from several parties have banded together to back the motion. Dublin City Council CEO Owen Keegan says that’s not what zoning is for.
North Lotts, not far from O’Connell Bridge, is cobbled, neglected, and a frequent site of open drug use. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
A government scheme now in the works may offer a “premium tariff” for those who install new solar panels.
These included a change that would affect a proposal to build 657 homes near St Anne’s Park.