Workers Party Dublin City Councillor Éilis Ryan has called on the government to prioritise the use of NAMA properties as emergency accommodation for homeless families
In a motion to be put before Dublin City Council this evening, Cllr. Ryan is calling for the government and Dublin City Council to develop a costed plan for the further purchase and/or lease of properties held by NAMA for use as emergency accommodation for homeless families. This, the councillor said, should happen ahead of any proposal to make use of flats which are designated for long-overdue regeneration.
Councillor Éilis Ryan
Speaking ahead of a council vote on a report outlining the potential use of O’Devaney Gardens in Dublin 7 as emergency accommodation for homeless families, Cllr. Eilis Ryan (Workers’ Party) said;
“The proposal to invest 4.7million euro in refurbishing flats in O’Devaney Gardens does a disservice both to homeless families in need of homes, and to current and former residents of O’Devaney Gardens for whom the plan is yet another blow to long-stalled regeneration efforts. Vague commitments to continue with regeneration five years from now mean little to residents who have been let down time and again by profiteers – many of whom have since been bailed out by NAMA – and successive governments.”
Highlighting the right of the public to gain social benefit from properties held by NAMA, Cllr. Ryan said;
“While Bernard McNamara, the property developer whose profiteering led to the collapse of the O’Devaney Gardens Public-Private Partnership, is back in business again thanks to NAMA, the government has still failed to identify how it will fund the regeneration of O’Devaney Gardens.
Government guarantees of the debts of property developers have cost the Irish public billions – now, the public have a right to demand that NAMA step up to the plate and lead in tackling the city’s homelessness crisis.”