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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 2 Jun 2010

Vol. 711 No. 2

Social and Affordable Housing

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting the issue of the regeneration programme in Dublin for discussion on the Adjournment. In recent years, especially during the Celtic tiger, "regeneration" was the buzzword in Dublin and other urban centres. For residents of flat complexes in my constituency of Dublin South Central, including St. Teresa's Gardens, St. Michael's Estate and Dolphin House, regeneration was the key to a new beginning.

For many years, residents had been promised better living conditions and finally, through public private partnerships, their homes were to be repaired and, in some cases, rebuilt. Many communities seized the opportunity with both hands and benefited from an injection of funding into local authority housing complexes. An excellent example of this is Fatima Mansions in Rialto.

With the downturn in the economy and a severe lack of funding, however, the chance for regeneration has passed by many communities. People are left with empty promises and feel cast aside by a Government which is too busy helping the banks and developers, who brought this country to its knees. Hundreds of local authority tenants are now living in substandard conditions with dampness, mould and sewage an everyday reality. We were all shocked and horrified last week by the story of Dolphin House where residents are living in deplorable conditions with sewage coming up their sinks and black mould on the walls. This is contributing to health problems such as asthma and bronchitis.

A recent survey in Dolphin House showed that the number of residents reporting dampness in Dolphin House was 71%; the number of people reporting mould was 65%; and the number of people reporting sewage problems was 89%. Many people say that these people pay very little rent. Some residents in Dolphin House pay up to €120 a week to live in these conditions. How, in a developed country, can the Government and especially the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government stand by and do nothing? The Government has a duty of care to the residents of these flat complexes, both through the housing Acts, and through public health requirements, but it chooses to ignore it.

The council claims its hands are tied because funding from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has dried up. Nothing has dried up in Dolphin House and particularly not the sewage. The Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív, knows Dolphin House well as he has been there on many occasions. Dolphin House and many other flat complexes have strong communities with people who are proud to live where they are. Generations have grown up rooted in the community where they live. They have supported the idea of regeneration from the start, initially through the consultation process and now through the development of a master plan for Dolphin House. However, the problem of funding still remains, and once the master plan is complete, there is no certainty that change will happen.

The bottom line is that the human rights of these people, their right to proper housing and sanitation, are being totally disregarded which is unacceptable and cannot continue. It is vital that the Government takes action on the issue of housing conditions and on the broader issue of regeneration. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government must step up and take responsibility for the deplorable living conditions with which many residents of our city-centre flat complexes are forced to deal every day. When I go home in the evening I can turn on my tap and have clear running water as, no doubt, can the Minister. For many people in Dolphin House that does not happen. The water running out of their taps is contaminated with sewage. For many people living in Dolphin House when they put on their washing machines what comes out are clothes that are destroyed and need to be discarded.

Residents are fed up with broken promises from the Government and want action. We want the Government to take responsibility for all the residents of Dolphin House and St. Teresa's Gardens. It is time to start again in order to give these people some chance of living in dignity in their homes. I invite the Minister and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to visit Dolphin House again and to visit the homes of the many people who live there and need to deal with the conditions. I believe in the regeneration of communities and I believe in strong communities. I also believe that the people living in Dolphin House, St. Teresa's Gardens and St. Michael's Estate have rights.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. As she rightly pointed out, I was in Dolphin House a number of times and I fully sympathise with the situation in which the residents find themselves.

The Government's commitment to social housing takes a broad approach to supporting the development of sustainable communities. A crucial element of this approach is our commitment to supporting the development of sustainable communities in existing local authority estates through various improvement and regeneration initiatives. Regeneration, in particular, is focused on addressing social, educational and economic disadvantage experienced in areas of particular deprivation.

In addition to improving the fabric of estates, each regeneration project takes a strategic approach to addressing the underlying causes of deprivation in the area, be they a lack of educational supports or community facilities or issues of anti-social behaviour. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government supports an ambitious regeneration programme with projects in most of our cities and across a number of regional towns.

The Department is committed to a multiannual regeneration programme in Dublin city to help improve the lives and conditions of the communities involved. It is reviewed on a regular basis with Dublin City Council with new projects added and additional elements of existing projects advanced as resources permit. It is however a matter for Dublin City Council, in the first instance, to prioritise and manage the advancement of projects within the programme, having regard to its available funding.

In the past decade the State has invested more than €100 million in the Dublin City Council inner-city flats regeneration programme to improve the accommodation in the complexes and to address economic and social issues including anti-social behaviour. Under the 2009 capital programme, €12 million was provided for projects at Bridgefoot Street, Queen Street, Lourdes House and Seán Treacy House. Investment in approved projects at Poplar Row, Lourdes House, and Seán Treacy House is continuing in 2010 with funding of almost €9 million available to substantially complete the programme.

In 2008, owing to the changing economic climate, the city council was not in a position to progress a number of projects under public private partnership arrangements. The city council therefore suspended its PPP programme pending recovery in the market and established a multidisciplinary special housing taskforce to examine alternative options for the redevelopment, in particular, of the priority regeneration projects of St Michael's Estate, O'Devaney Gardens and Dominick Street. The taskforce's initial strategy for the phased development of these estates, incorporating the construction of social housing as phase one, was adopted by the city council in December 2008. In support of this process, the Department has liaised closely with the council to ensure the former PPP regeneration projects are considered for inclusion in the national regeneration programme.

Approval issued in 2009 to go to tender for phase one of the St. Michael's Estate project and funding of €3.5 million is available to support the project this year. Detailed proposals for the future redevelopment of O'Devaney Gardens and Dominick Street are expected from the city council in 2010 or 2011 and in the meantime the council is continuing its strategy for the de-tenanting of these areas. A second taskforce is now examining redevelopment options for a further group of projects including Croke Villas, Dolphin House and St. Teresa's Gardens.

The regeneration of long-established communities requires sensitive management and, for long-term success, a consensus approach to the development of proposals is important. In this regard the city council, in addition to addressing ongoing management and maintenance issues, is working with residents to develop regeneration solutions that are acceptable to the community and that can be implemented. It will be up to Dublin City Council to decide on the type of regeneration proposal that is most appropriate for each area and to decide on the means by which each of the projects should be delivered. It is then a matter for the council to submit a proposal in the usual way for approval and funding from within the authority's annual social housing funding allocation.

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