Present: Louise Richards – the Iveagh Trust. Martin Hogan (Green Party candidate), Tina McVeigh (People Before Profit candidate), Críona Ní Dhálaigh (sitting councillor, Sinn Féin), Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fáil candidate), John Gallagher (sitting councillor, Labour), Rebecca Moynihan (Labour candidate). About 30 residents. Apologies: Clare Byrne (sitting councillor, Fine Gael)
1. Iveagh Trust development: Elveden House
Louise Richards shared some information about the development on the corner of Cork St and Donore Avenue. The artists’ impression and general detail about the development are all visible on the community group blog [LINK].
Louise outlined the long history of the Iveagh Trust in Dublin providing housing for those most in need, and the high standards which the housing attains. In particular, she pointed out that two of the units will be fully adapted for use by residents with disabilities.
Questions from the floor focused on the parking implications of the development, and the profile of residents. There was broad agreement that the Iveagh Trust is a reliable caretaker and that the development is an improvement on the vacant lot that was in its place. The Iveagh Trust has its own vetting procedures and maintains close contact with residents and also the gardaí.
Parking spaces in Elveden House will be very limited [since confirmed as four spaces], and there was some concern that this would result in residents parking their cars in the limited spaces around Cork St Buildings. Louise was of the opinion that very few residents would have cars, and that they would be informed that there wasn’t parking available before being offered the accommodation. Cork St Buildings residents expressed some unease about this, and ongoing communication with the site manager will be necessary to ensure that parking does not become an issue.
2. Discussion with council candidates.
A discussion was held over an hour with the 6 council candidates. There are 4 seats available in the constituency – an increase of one from the current situation. The following captures some of the main points raised.
Landlords and problem neighbours
Críona Ní Dhálaigh talked about the problem of bad neighbours who are renting from absentee landlords or from the HSE. There are problems in the area with noisy neighbours, and neighbours who dump on the streets. However, when these individuals have no relationship with the owner of the property, it is almost impossible to improve the situation. Some homes on Eugene St are very poor quality, meaning that landlords cannot ever tell their tenants how to behave since they are so badly treated.
Críona has reported properties in our area, and is investigating the idea of interim management orders to improve landlord accountability.
Martin Hogan mentioned new guidelines which are being developed on rental property maintenance; however, others pointed out that the problem is not absence of regulation, it is that existing regulation is not enforced.
St Teresa’s Gardens
Críona Ní Dhálaigh and Tina McVeigh drew attention to the poor quality of housing in St Teresa’s Gardens, and the urgency of addressing this. There is now no information about the plans for redevelopment of this complex, since the collapse of the public-private partnership model.
The maintenance of the flats is very poor: some tenants have experienced raw sewage coming from their taps. 90 units are vacant (of a total of 360), and while they are unoccupied, they are dirty, dangerous for children, and sometimes used for storage of drugs.
Local development
There was a discussion about development plans for the area. Críona and Rebecca encouraged people to get involved in the Dublin development plan, but they acknowledged that there is confusion around the applicable development plan for our immediate area.
One problem is that all new developments must include commercial property. In the short term, this results in empty lots which makes Cork St look derelict. A resident pointed out that if sites are not developed to be commercial units, it becomes impossible to draw commercial investment into an area.
Rebecca Moynihan agreed, and suggested that the units should be used in the short term in a flexible way, to generate life.
Críona favoured reducing rates to stimulate use of these spaces, and fitting them out to make them more attractive, while Tina suggested that they should be used for community enterprise.
Waste
The bin collection day has been moved to Mondays; a resident questioned how this will work over the summer months with frequent bank holidays. Candidates did not have a clear response. [DCC have since confirmed that waste will be collected on bank holidays]
A further discussion on waste in the area suggested that we designate the area a litter blackspot – apparently our area does not qualify for this designation.
Martin Hogan suggested that local business needs to take a role in these community issues, and thought that perhaps Lidl could provide dumping facilities in their parking space – he said that he would follow up.
Rebecca Moynihan spoke about community worm bins.
One resident suggested that the level of waste collection has become worse since we began to complain actively to the council. [DCC, on the other hand, report an 80% drop in illegally dumped waste]
Tina McVeigh discussed a successful experience in Devaney’s Gardens where residents monitored waste collection over a period, and then shared their concrete evidence with the council to call for improvements.
Anti-Social Behaviour
Residents of Eugene St asked for advice on how to stop the kids from getting on to their roof. Tina said that providing activities for young people reduces anti-social behaviour, and Paul from Vista outlined the extensive youth services available to young people in the area. He pointed out that the services available for the flats are available to our streets also. A number of residents were interested in supporting activities to keep the kids and young people on the streets active and amused.
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