Housing minister to meet Oliver Bond residents following outcry over scrapping of regeneration scheme
Housing Minister James Browne has agreed to meet residents of Dublin’s Oliver Bond flat complex following uproar over his decision to scrap its regeneration scheme, years in the making.
Frank Clarke, chair of the Oliver Bond Regeneration Forum, confirmed that the meeting would be proceeding in the middle of next week “with details still to be worked out”.
The forum has been heavily involved in developing the now-scrapped plans to regenerate the dilapidated complex, which has extensive damp, mould and antisocial behaviour issues.
Residents, councillors, council officials, local gardaí and the HSE all sit on the forum, which has requested a meeting with Mr Browne several times to no avail.
“We’ve been trying to get [Mr Browne] out for a long time to discuss this,” said Labour councillor Darragh Moriarty. "We do now have confirmation that a meeting will take place next Wednesday. How that will work I don’t fully know.”
"I think it’s important that he actually steps foot in Oliver Bonds and sees the reality of what it’s like for residents to live in,” he said.
He cautiously welcomed the meeting, but said he hoped the meeting was more than a “photo op”.
"I hope it’s a positive sign, I hope he’s not coming out just to restate the same position he’s already stated. I hope he’s there to listen, to consider, and that hopefully there’s some sort of U-turn or climb down,” he said.
“This does need to be depoliticised. It needs to be looked at from the point of view of the families and residents of a very dilapidated and dated complex. What can we do to get those homes rejuvenated as quickly as possible?”
It emerged yesterday that the regeneration plans for Oliver Bond flats complex had been scrapped, with Government saying the proposals “do not represent value for money”.
The complex’s long-mooted regeneration promised to address its dire living conditions, with a planning application due to be submitted in October this year by Dublin City Council (DCC).
Works were to start on the Herbert Simms-designed building, originally built in 1936, in two years.
Those proposals would 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 Mr Moriarty saying yesterday that 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.
“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 , who also sat on the forum, said residents were absolutely gutted by news of the regeneration being scrapped.
“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.”