Tusla says it's an offence to run an unregistered children’s home, but it places children in them anyways
So how does it square the circle?
Seven areas of expertise should be represented, said a recent council report.
“I think it's so sad that a beautiful little house was destroyed,” says Rosita Sweetman. “It seems we are incredibly bad at managing our housing stock.”
Is the issue paperwork? Attention and will? Money? The department?
As of April, only nine of the 23 ground-floor units across the Herberton Complex were occupied.
The Georgian building was once a meeting place for revolutionary leaders and the Gaelic League, and has been in council ownership, at least on paper, since 1998.
Because of its central location, the high footfall in the area, and its proximity to a lot of venues and cultural spaces, it’s become a premier flyering spot.
The council promised to start taking legal action against owners of derelict homes who don’t pay the levy going forward.
That would be welcome given the ongoing shortage of spaces in the developed neighbourhood, say councillors.
One landowner says that he doesn’t make that much from it, and is eager to develop the building.
Years back, the Office of Public Works said it would figure out what to do with the homes on Garda Terrace, but it still hasn’t yet said what.
A delay in a railway project means Iarnród Éireann won’t need it for a couple more years. “That was the only stumbling block, that it would be required back very shortly.”
The council’s current target is to knock and build new social homes on the site in the heart of the south-inner city by early 2028.