As an anti-immigrant encampment dwindles on Basin View, its organisers try to rally
One man who’s been involved has been trying to organise a social event on a nearby council football pitch, something the council says it’s “monitoring”.
The project would retrofit the existing building, and add extensions, to increase the number of homes from 38 to 53.
“It was a slow start, but I think the ship is moving,” said council housing manager, Mick Mulhern, at a housing committee meeting.
Many of the social housing projects paused recently were on vacant sites but this one is different, says a local councillor.
“Homes not Hazards” is set for Tailors’ Hall in the Liberties on 28 June.
As many as 1,325 social homes in Dublin city are at an advanced stage, with planning granted – but now with no clear funding.
Councillors said that they feel the city was just used as the backdrop for a pre-election PR campaign.
Across the city, tenants in older flats confront the stark difference between their conditions and those likely in new cost-rental homes.
Dublin city councillors say they aren’t being kept up to date about continued fall-out from governance issues at the housing charity, Peter McVerry Trust.
“The difference that tenant purchase made to Irish society was enormous,” says Aideen Hayden. But its legacy and present is complex.
“Before I get out of my car outside the house, I get the smell of sewage. When people call over, I have to warn them. It’s embarrassing.”
Phase 1b of the project to eventually build upwards of 700 homes on the site envisions building 30 fronting onto Dolphin’s Barn Road.
This isn’t viable, so another use for the site will have to be found, a council official said.