Dublin City Council’s newest councillor is a Kerry-born housing activist set on tackling bin bag problem
Dublin City Council’s (DCC) newest representative is determined to hit the ground running as she replaces former councillor Daniel Ennis, who was elected to the Dáil.
Social Democrats’ councillor Ellen O’Doherty, from Co Kerry, was co-opted into Mr Ennis’s seat on Monday. She said she has several priorities for the remaining three years of the council term.
“One of the key areas would be homelessness prevention, and the tenant-in-situ scheme has proven time and time again that it is the most effective anti-homelessness tool available to representatives and to the councils,” she said, adding that she wants to see the scheme restored to its previous standing.
New restrictions on the tenant-in-situ scheme were introduced by Housing Minister James Browne in February, a move Ms O’Doherty wants to see reversed.
“Another really important piece of the puzzle is standards in housing. Looking at your regeneration projects, you’re looking at your inspections, you’re looking at maintenance. Because for a huge amount of people, the council is their landlord and there are responsibilities that come with that,” Ms O’Doherty said.
She said the Government’s rollback on Oliver Bond House’s regeneration in recent months was “very, very disappointing”.
Living conditions in some council flat complexes should be treated as “urgent human rights issues”, she added.
Ms O’Doherty has spent the last 18 months working with the Social Democrats’ housing spokesperson, Rory Hearne, as a parliamentary assistant.
Part of her job has been monitoring official homelessness figures when they are released on the last Friday of every month. Ms O’Doherty said she has a “pit in her stomach” ahead of each announcement.
“I don’t think it will ever leave me, that feeling of seeing the numbers go up and thinking about who those extra people are,” she said.
“It’s only strengthened my commitment to helping people and improving housing in Dublin.”
While she would like to see DCC directly building far more housing schemes, she said local authorities often find themselves “beholden” to central government and the policies they hand down.
“It would be great to see councils be a bit more empowered, because they are the boots on the ground, especially councillors. You know, councillors are answerable to the residents in the area. And the role, as I see it, is as being an advocate for people in their areas,” Ms O’Doherty said.
One issue in the spotlight in recent weeks is waste management as DCC rolls out a new strategy for on-street bin bags.
The third phase of that plan, which would ban bin bags on streets in parts of Dublin 7, has been met with backlash from residents, who in many cases cannot accommodate the wheelie bins they are being told to use.
DCC has since delayed the rollout of phase three until August, but many residents remain opposed.
Ms O’Doherty, who has lived on the north side of Dublin for a decade, said waste management was a “humongous” issue in the north inner city.
“It was actually one of the reasons that I ran in the first place because I was living in Stoneybatter at the time and it has always been an issue there. It came up on the doors in 2024, no doubt it’ll come up even stronger now,” she said.
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“Thinking about that [Stoneybatter] house I lived in, we would not have been able to accommodate a wheelie bin, point-blank.”
Ms O’Doherty said a solution tailored for this location must be devised.
“The waste management needs of that area are hyper-specific and I think a one size fits all kind of approach is just not going to work,” she said. “The devil will be in the details.”
Further council engagement with residents is necessary, she said, but added indefinite delays to the plan “serve no one”.
“Reverting something back slows it down even more and costs more money, so getting something right the first time is important,” she said.
Ms O’Doherty said she is keen to work on the issue of the north inner city’s lack of green spaces and sports facilities.
“The interesting thing about the north inner city is that because it is so densely populated, it is so built up, it requires perhaps a level of creativity and problem-solving and looking at a space and seeing its potential rather than what’s in front of you right now,” she said.
Ms O’Doherty said she does not feel pressured to follow in Mr Ennis’s footsteps.
“It feels like a real honour to take up the seat of someone who has done such incredible work. It’s not pressure, it’s more so an opportunity to rise to that occasion,” she said.
“Because I know that the north inner city is retaining a very hard-working and principle-driven councillor. I suppose my job for the next couple of months is to show that.”