It has issued a tender for a feasibility study. The documents include few details, but they do confirm the likely future uses for the historic building.
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.
Dublin City Councillors sometimes agree to sell off a property with the proviso that the buyer must start redeveloping it within months. That doesn’t always happen.
