At a council-owned complex near Queen Street that has been plagued for years by leaks and other maintenance issues, a large electricity supply box caught fire on 14 September.
Some say a 2016 law meant to stop mass evictions – the so-called “Tyrrelstown amendment” – is deeply flawed. The Department of Housing says it’s “proportionate” .
Councillors say they plan to meet with Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy sometime in the next month. But it looks like it’ll be hard to chart a path to an agreement.
Homeless HAP rates, which are higher, should be available to people earlier, say some Dublin councillors – although that raises questions about inflation of rents.
Dublin City Council said this week that the building doesn’t fit the law’s definition of “derelict” – and that the council has not moved to put the building on its list of derelict sites.
Residents of Glovers Court have been asking the council for years to address the issues at the 1976-vintage flats. The council has been looking at ways to better insulate them.
Some councillors say the tax is unfair and plan to vote to keep it as low as possible until there is reform – even though this means millions less to spend on public services.
Part of the discussion focused on why the council had opted for affordable homes to sell, rather than to rent – and whether it was possible to revisit that.
Martin Keane told the council he probably didn’t need to highlight his “considerable financial resources” and “full legal team, ready, willing and able to take on this challenge”.
Some said they’d sought, and gotten, assurances that it wasn’t suitable for housing. Others questioned whether it could have been used for something else.
