As the government courts more international money for Ireland’s rental sector, tenants say they want more transparency around who they are renting from.
As of December 2017, the owner of this building was Martina Investments Limited, a company registered in Guernsey, and owned by two companies in the Bahamas.
The site has been sold to an unknown buyer, the brothers have been moved out, and the school is due to close in June. What then? local residents and councillors worry. Will it sit vacant for years?
If they’re going to make an impact, they should be focused on the issue full-time – and not just be existing staff members now endowed with an extra title, says Francis Doherty, of Peter McVerry Trust.
There should be a comprehensive, public database of who owns the properties in the city, says Francis Doherty of Peter McVerry Trust. “It’s in the public interest, the common good.”
Many council-owned apartments are sitting empty in ageing complexes scheduled to be torn down and rebuilt in the coming years. Some argue that people could live in them in the meantime.
The council owns 11 hectares in Belmayne, perhaps enough for 1,000 new homes. One councillor wonders why the council isn’t working faster to develop it.
The site has been subject to a half-dozen planning applications over the last number of years. It’s on the council’s Vacant Sites Register, but its owners are appealing that.
