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 choice shouldn’t be to sell for money or leave it vacant for years, some councillors say – but to hustle for cultural spaces or even housing.
Some say the rents set by the council are too high while a council official says they’re flexible, and open to deals.
This month’s cover is a pastiche of the “Doors of Dublin” poster and postcard, substituting its polished Georgian doors with doors to vacant buildings and makeshift homes.
When we asked readers what they wanted candidates running for Dublin City Council to talk about, dereliction and vacancy were among the top-10 most-mentioned issues.
An advert for the site, vacant for years, says a feasibility study displays “the potential for a student accommodation scheme comprising 285 bed spaces”.
Most of the small businesses on the block bounded by South Richmond Street, Harcourt Road, and Charlemont Street have closed in the last few months.
The Supply Hub is not the only business in Doyle’s Corner that has had to leave its premises in the last few months. There’s a whole strip now that’s empty, or emptying out: 364 to 374 North Circular Road.
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?
Of the 46 derelict sites listed almost three and a half years ago on Dublin City Council’s register, 18 are still on the list.
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.
For years the council has been saying they will be made into apartments for people who are homeless. But that still hasn’t happened.