Council attempt to force through demolition against wishes of residents “underhanded”
Workers’ Party will ask councillors to vote for “100% public, mixed income” housing instead of privatisation of the public site.
The Workers’ Party will tonight propose that the demolition of tenanted blocks in O’Devaney Gardens be postponed until new homes have been built for residents on site. It will propose a motion calling for fully public, mixed income housing on the site.
Speaking ahead of a vote on the demolition at a special meeting of Dublin City Council tonight, Workers’ Party councillor for the north inner city, Éilis Ryan, said: “Residents’ preference is for new social housing to be built in O’Devaney Gardens before they are asked to leave their homes, so that they can immediately relocate to new homes on site. On a sixteen hectare site, that proposal is entirely feasible”.
“Dublin City Council has given residents a guarantee that they will not be taken to court to leave their homes. For a demolition order to be granted under these circumstances is completely underhanded on the part of the council. She continued: “The attempt to push through the demolition order in the absence of a plan for the site gives credence to rumours that the Housing Land Initiative – a plan to pay private developers to develop land including O’Devaney Gardens – is intended to minimise the amount of social housing on the site.”
The Workers’ Party will be putting forward a motion at tonight’s special council meeting calling for 100% public housing to be built on the site instead. Cllr. Ryan concluded: “Councillors have a duty to provide certainty to residents that O’Devaney Gardens will not be sold off to the highest bidder. The best way to do this is to agree to develop the site publicly, for mixed-income, 100% public housing for all.”
Full text of motion to be submitted by the Workers’ Party tonight
“The Council recognises the vibrant history of O’Devaney Gardens as a public housing community, and commits to maintaining the role of O’Devaney Gardens in providing high quality, affordable housing and community facilities within Dublin’s Canals. The Council furthermore accepts the role of the government, council and private developers in failing to deliver regeneration at O’Devaney Gardens, including Dublin City Council failing to honour written guarantees to numerous former residents that they could return to O’Devaney Gardens. In light of this history, and considering the housing crisis which those on lowand middle-income households in Dublin, the Council supports the development of a pilot scheme of 100% public, mixed income housing on the O’Devaney Gardens site. Under the scheme, all housing on the site will be built by and rented from the Council, with 50% of housing units rented at current differential rents to households currently on housing waiting lists, while 50% of housing units will be rented to households earning above the waiting list threshold, but with demonstrated housing need, and paying higher rents in line with their income.”