THE HOUSES at numbers 85 and 87 Emmet Road in Inchicore, Dublin 8, were sad and decrepit sights not too long ago.
“They became derelict over a period of time,” explained local Fine Gael TD Catherine Byrne. “They had, on and off, been used for unsociable behaviour.”
In the space of a year, the properties have been transformed from damp, pigeon-infested places into clean, bright new homes for two families – who were waiting on the Dublin City Council housing list - thanks to some 2,500 hours of graft from volunteers with Habitat for Humanity Ireland.
The soon-to-be residents of the houses had a significant moment yesterday when they welcomed a new neighbour into their homes.
On his arrival, President Michael D Higgins said it would have been rude not to come to visit, given the proximity of Emmet Road to his new lodgings at Arás an Uachtaráin, just across the Phoenix Park.
He said he knew Inchicore well from coming to see Galway United, the club of which he was president, play St Patrick’s Athletic at nearby Richmond Park.
“It’s a lovely area,” Mr Higgins explained to Fiona Corcoran, who is due to move into 85 Emmet Road with her daughters Sarah and Ellie in the coming weeks, as they admired her new kitchen.
Keith Greene, who is to move into number 87 with his partner Jennifer Klail and son Nathan (3), from a one-bedroom flat in the inner city, said that having a home to call their own would make a huge difference.
“We’re going to be homeowners. It’s something we couldn’t see happening two years ago,” he said. “Our living situation at the moment is cramped and a bit stressful,” Jennifer added. “It’s going to make such a difference having a house. The kids will have their space and we’ll have a garden and those kind of things.”
The families will have to repay a mortgage on the properties and are also expected to put some 500 hours of what Habitat for Humanity brands “sweat equity” – work in and around their new homes – into the arrangement.
“Our approach is based on a hand up, not a hand out,” said Karen Kennedy of Habitat for Humanity Ireland.
“Today these homes symbolise a new beginning. A coming together of people to make a difference and pave the way for a new future.”
In an address to those gathered at Emmet Road, the President said he was pleased to see the places where people live being seen “as homes and not units”.
He criticised building practices during the boom years, saying there was something “not just artificial but morally questionable about the notion that one would be making speculative profit” out of housing shortages.
Mr Higgins said the practices of those time had left the State with “an enormous problem of people trapped in mortgage difficulties and inequity”.
“But more important and incredible is the existence of ghost estates and I keep on thinking of those who long for a home when at the same time you have houses that should never have been built which now have created an immense problem. Lets hope there will be imaginative proposals to deal with all of that.”
After Mr Higgins’s departure, the Corcoran family said they were delighted to have welcomed visitors to their new home for the first time. “It’s fantastic to say I’ve had the President look around my bedroom,” Ms Corcoran laughed. “It’s a great way to start a new beginning,” her daughter Sarah added.
