The full council is set to vote in June on the plan to rejuvenate the square in line with its Georgian heritage, following 196 submissions to a public consultation.
Construction works to ready the site for 578 social and cost-rental apartments are now set to begin in March, according to a presentation to councillors.
“Dublin is a ‘smart city’ – high tech, advanced, efficient, connected. Unless, maybe, you live in an apartment building or carved-up Georgian terrace.”
At one site, on Bonham Street, 57 “rapid-build” homes took almost four years to build and cost 51 percent more than originally agreed, an auditor’s report says.
The HSE isn’t maintaining them well, or doing necessary upgrades – maybe it’s time it hands them over to the council, tenants and local councillors say.
“They just blamed biodiversity,” says Geraldine Dunne, director of Southside Traveller Action Group. “They didn’t even try to challenge the discrimination and racism.”
An inter-departmental group is going to have a think about it, and make recommendations in the first half of 2025, a Department of Housing spokesperson said.
