Dublin City Council housing complex conditions slammed as ‘Dickensian'
Dublin city councillors have decried the conditions that many council tenants are living in at a South Central Area Committee meeting.
Residents of Emmet Buildings in The Liberties have long complained of issues of pervasive dampness, mould and a lack of insulation in the complex, with knock-on impacts on their health and wellbeing.
Speaking at the meeting last Wednesday, Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan said the conditions facing the tenants were “dickensian”, while his colleague Ciarán Ó Meachair said the problems were broader than just Emmet Buildings.
"It’s the council complexes right around Dublin 8 and beyond that have suffered just absolute decades of neglect,” Mr Ó Meachair said.
“People are living in dampness, they’re living in mould, people are freezing in the middle of winter, there’s problems with rats, there’s problems with things that you wouldn’t accept anywhere else.
"It wouldn’t be accepted anywhere, so I don’t know why we expect council tenants to put up with it,” he added.
Labour councillor Darragh Moriarty said there was nothing “groundbreaking” about what the tenants are asking for.
"It’s the most basic common level of decency that anybody in this chamber would expect to live in themselves or expect their family members to live in.”
Councillor Lesley Byrne said she felt a “state of emergency” should be declared for complexes like Emmet Buildings, to prioritise them for future works.
A motion was passed by the councillors acknowledging the “multiple difficulties experienced” by the tenants, and calling on the council executive to “upgrade and improve both the flats and the shared areas in the estate”.
In response, Dublin City Council (DCC) senior engineer Robert Buckle said there were council housing complexes all over the city that were “miles behind” modern building standards due to their age.
"Eighty per cent of DCC’s stock was built prior to the building regulations in 1991. Fifty per cent of our stock was built between 1930 and 1977 and as building practices at the time, there’s no insulation on these buildings,” he said.
The council is working through a regeneration programme for council complexes and houses, but he said there was no “quick fix solution”.
"We’re going to spend close to €2m this year upgrading windows within complexes, but there is an awful lot of work still to be done in numerous complexes throughout the city”.
He committed to meeting with residents of Emmet Buildings within the next three to four weeks and work out a plan for short-term, medium-term and long-term remedies that can be implemented.