Residents in the Dublin City Council (DCC) complex, built in 1936, have long suffered with damp, mould and antisocial behaviour issues, with the long-mooted regeneration promising to address dire living conditions.
The DCC proposals would also have amalgamated smaller flats to form larger units, which meant an overall reduction in apartments from 74 to 46 for the three blocks proposed.
The Department of Housing said it could not support such a reduction “during a housing crisis.”
It requested that DCC update the plans to provide for a deep retrofit of the existing flats and houses, “while ensuring that there is not a significant reduction in homes”.
At the same time, it said flats should be redesigned to reduce the number of bed spaces, noting that some units “fall short of the minimum apartment floor areas” for current usages.
“The department recommends that flats be reconfigured for the appropriate bed spaces for the existing floor areas; e.g. convert small two-bedroom flats to standard size one-bedroom homes for couples.”
They added that the council’s plans to demolish three of the 14 blocks and build new homes on Bridgefoot Street provides an opportunity to house families displaced by the reduction in bed spaces.
However, the scrapping of the regeneration has been widely condemned by opposition parties and residents, with Labour councillor Darragh Moriarty saying it was a “disgraceful” and “tone deaf” move.
“For the government to pull the rug from under the Oliver Bond Regeneration when we are a few short months away from planning being lodged is gut-wrenching,” he said in a statement.
DCC was due to submit a planning application for the regeneration in October this year, with construction set to begin in 2028.
“The Taoiseach himself has visited Oliver Bond and heard directly from residents on the realities they and their families face every day in terms of damp, mould and cramped and overcrowded conditions,” said Mr Moriarty.
“To attempt to justify the Government’s refusal to progress this vitally needed regeneration project by saying it can’t support the loss of units in a housing crisis is galling.”
Gayle Cullen-Doyle, a resident of the complex, said residents were absolutely gutted by the news.
“It’s like someone is after dying in the community,” she said
Ms Cullen-Doyle said Housing Minister James Browne is out of touch and doesn’t understand the reality of life for residents.
“My message [to Mr Browne] is to come down and visit us. Come down and see our conditions. He’s made zero contact since he came into that role.
“In fairness to [previous housing minister] Darragh O’Brien, he visited the flats, and he promised us: ‘The money is there, it’s just about how we’re going to do this.’
“You think he’d be passing that information onto the next minister, to continue that work.”
The Government’s suggestion to reduce the number of bed spaces per unit also wouldn’t work, she added.
“And what? Throw all the families out? Then you’ve no community and if you think what’s going on now is bad, that would be worse. It would be like the Bronx.”
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme