Calls for public housing on former Magdalene Laundry site as ‘Living Memorial’ to survivors

Two-thirds of families in homeless accommodation are lone parent families

3000 public housing units needed in northeast inner city to clear lists

The Workers’ Party have today (Tuesday) issued a proposal for a public housing development to built on the site of a former Magdalene Laundry on Seán McDermott Street in Dublin’s North Inner City.

The proposal comes ahead of a meeting of local councillors tomorrow (Wednesday) to discuss a proposal that the site be sold to a hotel chain.

Speaking on the proposal, Workers’ Party councillor Éilis Ryan, who represents the area, said:

“There are nearly 3,000 households on the waiting and transfer lists for housing in the Northeast Inner City. In this context, selling Dublin City Council owned land for a commercial development is an absolute scandal.

“The site at Seán McDermott Street is one of the last publicly-owned sites in the Northeast Inner City. If they won’t build housing here, where exactly do they plan to build the 3,000 units needed to clear housing waiting lists in the area?”

Cllr. Ryan said that, as well as a meaningful memorial to survivors of the Laundry, public housing on the site would serve as a ‘living memorial,’ saying:

“Two thirds of homeless families are lone parent families. We may not lock up unmarried mothers anymore, but we also don’t grant them the dignity of a secure home. Nowadays, the suffering is no longer caused by the church – instead it’s brutal, greedy developers and landlords, facilitated by our government.

“In my view, the best way to remember the atrocious treatment of women in the laundry, is to invest in public housing to alleviate the treatment of those suffering in the housing crisis today.”

She concluded:

“Ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, I have asked Deputy Chief Executive Brendan Kenny for a report on where he imagines the 3,000 units needed in the northeast inner city will be built. It seems to me like the city council are hoping that people waiting on housing in the inner city move on – ideally to an area less valuable to private developers.”