> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.dublininquirer.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Buying homes to turn them into social housing, the council displaced eight tenants in recent years - URL: https://www.dublininquirer.com/buying-homes-to-turn-them-into-social-housing-the-council-displaced-eight-tenants-in-recent-years/ - Published: 2026-09-10T23:35:38.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-10T23:35:38.000Z - Description: “I don’t think we do have a policy on displacement,” says Labour Councillor Darragh Moriarty. “But there probably should be something in light of the private rental market being so volatile and so precarious.” - Author: Laoise Neylon - Tags: Housing, City Desk Dublin City Council has bought 116 second-hand homes in nine locations in the city under Part V legislation since 2021, instead of buying new-build homes in new developments. That accounts for 7 percent of the 1,662 homes the council bought under the law that prompts it to buy a percentage of homes in big new private developments for social, and more recently affordable, housing. This is supposed to contribute towards greater social mix within communities, as well as deliver new social housing. Those purchases included 40 existing homes in Northbank in the north Docklands, which the council bought in 2022 instead of buying new-build homes in nearby Coopers Cross, show [records](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28613390-letter-foi-second-hand-part-v/?ref=dublininquirer.com) released under the Freedom of Information Act. A council spokesperson said that most of these homes in Northbank were already empty. But tenants were living in eight of them, they said. Those eight tenancies are mentioned in a Residential Tenancies Board tribunal report issued [earlier this year.](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28534792-1243-tribunal-report/?ref=dublininquirer.com) In the case before the tribunal, the tenants had lived in their homes for 15 years and [contested the eviction](https://www.dublininquirer.com/in-the-north-inner-city-tenants-of-15-years-evicted-so-council-can-buy-their-home/). The council spokesperson said that all eight households were offered alternative accommodation. “All tenants left without issue other than one resident who remains in a 3-bed apartment, but is leaving in the coming weeks,” says the council spokesperson. “This private tenant was offered alternative accommodation but refused it.” The RTB tribunal report says that the tenant rejected the offer because the alternative accommodation was too small to be suitable for the household and described the alternative offered as “very basic”. Labour Councillor Darragh Moriarty says that the council should probably have a policy on displacement. It's been an issue also, when homeless accommodation is being created, he said. “Tathony House was obviously owned by a private operator, who mass evicted everybody, and it's now a DRHE facility,” said Moriarty. “I don’t think we do have a policy on displacement,” says Moriarty. “But there probably should be something in light of the private rental market being so volatile and so precarious.” ## Displacing tenants “The council shouldn’t be acquiring units and displacing sitting tenants,” says Sinn Féin TD and housing spokesperson, Eoin Ó Broin. “While in this instance it is clear the council’s understanding was that the tenants were offered alternative accommodation, the council needs to really satisfy itself that nobody is being inappropriately displaced because of the acquisition of second-hand units,” he said. As well as Tathony House, which Moriarty mentioned, in at least three other cases in Drumcondra, Rathmines and Terenure, sitting tenants have complained in the past of being evicted and their former homes turned into homeless accommodation. [Time and again, long-term tenants evicted and their homes turned into homeless accommodationA spokesperson for the Dublin Region Homeless Executive said its priority was “to ensure there is an adequate provision of accommodation for people experiencing homelessness”.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9f/78/9f782dda-9dc9-44d1-b817-fe80588bdc76/content/images/icon/Favicon-2-f0600e17-b3b9-45ef-b099-97209de424c2.jpg)Dublin InQuirerLaoise Neylon![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9f/78/9f782dda-9dc9-44d1-b817-fe80588bdc76/content/images/thumbnail/madeleine-johansson-outside-tathony-house-197f5f0e-b5ca-4f50-bc2f-f77985403595.webp)](https://www.dublininquirer.com/time-and-again-long-term-tenants-evicted-and-their-homes-turned-into-homeless-accommodation/) In the case of Tramco in Rathmines, tenants were fighting their eviction while others were being moved into their building as emergency accommodation. A spokesperson for the Dublin Region Homeless Executive said in 2025 that its priority was “to ensure there is an adequate provision of accommodation for people experiencing homelessness”. The council should formulate a clear policy to ensure that people are not being displaced for the council to buy homes under Part V legislation or to open new homeless accommodation, says Moriarty. ## Part V for second-hand homes In most cases the second-hand home purchases were in the same area as the new build development that they were in lieu of, except for Capital Dock and Rathgar Road. In 2022, Dublin City Council bought 39 homes in Herberton in Rialto in Dublin 8 instead of new-build homes in Capital Dock in Dublin 1 and Clancy Quay in Dublin 8\. Moriarty says he believes the flats in Herberton, which is in his area, were long-term vacant when bought. Also in 2022, the council bought 15 homes at Longboat Quay in the south Docklands instead of new-build homes at Lime Street in the same area. Fast forward to this year, and so far the council has bought five homes in Saoirse House in Cork Street, Dublin 8, instead of buying new-build homes on the Rathgar Road in Rathmines. And it has bought three homes in Merrion Village instead of new-build homes at Herbert Park and Pembroke Place. Meanwhile, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has bought 34 second-hand homes under Part V legislation since 2021\. One of those was a bulk-sale of 28 existing homes in Stillorgan, [records show](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28614011-dlr-response/?ref=dublininquirer.com). Fingal County Council bought 44 second-hand homes under Part V since 2021, according to [records](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28614009-fingal-response/?ref=dublininquirer.com). South Dublin County Council says it hasn’t bought any second-hand homes using the legislation during the time period, according to a [letter.](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28614010-sdcc-response/?ref=dublininquirer.com) ## The purpose of Part V “The purpose of Part V is for the State to capture a portion of the increase in land value resulting from the granting of planning permission for residential development,” according to the [Housing Agency.](https://www.housingagency.ie/supporting-and-enabling-social-housing/part-v/?ref=dublininquirer.com) “The use of the land for the delivery of social, affordable purchase and cost rental housing satisfies a policy objective of encouraging integrated development and reducing housing segregation,” it says. Part V is supposed to be for councils to buy homes in new developments, says Ó Broin. The legislation allows councils to buy them elsewhere in certain cases, he says. In his view, those “should be really exceptional cases, and should not in any way become more frequent or become the norm”, says Ó Broin. “This approach has only ever been used in a very limited number of circumstances and we would typically avoid this wherever possible,” says the council spokesperson. The116are the second-hand homes which are purchased off site, but the council also buys new-build homes in a different location, in lieu of the Part V for developments in expensive areas. Moriarty says that overall the number of Part V homes being purchased off-site in Dublin is too high. He talks to council housing delivery managers and they explain that they can buy more homes, if they look at lower-cost areas. He understands, but “that does fly in the face of the intended social mixing of Part V.” It means that three are fewer new social homes being delivered in some areas of Dublin, particularly expensive and affluent areas. “It doesn’t serve people in certain parts of the city, where there is just no prospect of ever being a successful social housing applicant really,” says Moriarty. If the council doesn't want to cough up the high prices for new-build apartments in the city centre, it has other options, says architect and housing commentator Mel Reynolds. Under Part V legislation, it can also buy land at a discount from the developer, he says, and build it out itself.