THE NATIONAL Assets Management Agency has submitted a list of 332 apartments to Dublin City Council for consideration in rehousing residents of the Priory Hall apartments.
A Nama spokesman said the agency had supplied a list of potential properties in Dublin 13, Dublin 17 and Dublin 11. Nama has been examining housing units linked to loans on its books that might be used to accommodate residents from the 187-apartment complex in Donaghmede who have been evacuated from their homes.
It is understood that the identified sites include 66 units in Belmayne, off the Malahide Road, 12 units in Belmayne Park, 38 units in Clongriffin, and eight units in Clongriffin Town Centre, all of which are in Dublin 13, as well as units in Finglas, Baldoyle and Northern Cross on the Malahide Road.
Last week, the council secured a court order to evacuate the apartments after it was found the buildings contained serious structural deficiencies and posed a fire safety risk.
The Nama spokesman said it was now up to the council to review the list and make contact with the relevant owners or agents to see if it could agree terms. He said that, contrary to recent media reports, Nama was not in position to “simply hand over” properties to the council as it did not directly own them.
Last night, the council said 131 adults and 49 children under 12 had been provided with emergency accommodation in the Regency Hotel, Whitehall.
Approximately 40-50 people remained in the apartment complex ahead of today’s evacuation deadline. The council said it had so far secured 22 housing units, which would be allocated on a “prioritised basis” based on individual family need.
Minister of State for Housing Willie Penrose said he had been in contact with Nama officials yesterday about rehousing the residents. But he said many Nama units may not be suitable.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fail Senator Averil Power has called on all financial institutions that provided mortgages for properties in Priory Hall to freeze the monthly repayments until the development works are completed, saying she understood one bank had already suspended such repayments.
