Residents at the centre of a long-running regeneration saga fear further delays could cause long-term damage to their community.
Despite a commitment from Dublin City Council that Dolphin House in the south inner city would be regenerated, people living there say "alarm bells" have been ringing since last week when they learned planning permission had been sought only last Wednesday. They say the process, already delayed several times, is now a further nine months behind schedule.
“Phase 1 of the regeneration may now not start until September next year, over two years after the Government approved funding for the project in September 2013,” said a spokeswoman. It was supposed to begin next January. The council said last July that €19 million would be spent on the first phase of the regeneration.
Rundown state
The 436 flats off the South Circular Road in Dolphin’s Barn were built in the 1950s. They have become increasingly rundown and, in 2010, residents began a process of highlighting how living conditions contravene their human rights to safe and habitable housing.
Their contention was supported by the then Irish Human Rights Commission as well as international housing rights academics. They compiled reports showing sewage invading through toilets, baths, sinks and washing machines, corrosive damp and mould containing pathogenic spores growing in the flats.
They showed conditions affected school attendance, with children regularly ill with respiratory difficulties.
The area is classified by not-for-profit organisation Pobal as “very disadvantaged”. According to data it gathered from the 2011 census, 40.7 per cent of residents have a primary education only and just 5 per cent have a third-level education. The male unemployment rate in the area increased from 38.6 per cent in 2006 to 60.8 per cent in 2011, while female unemployment went from 26 per cent to 38 per cent.
Health risk
Yesterday residents hosted their fifth “human rights hearing” and published their fourth monitoring report, again supported by the Irish Human Rights and
Equality Commission
. They say substandard conditions continue to “pose a risk to residents’ health as well as making for a generally poor quality of life”.
The report, compiled by a local NGO, Rialto Rights in Action, finds that 40 flats have been refurbished and 54 remediated in advance of the regeneration, but 24 households have reported new mould and damp issues since 2012.
They say that although Dublin City Council is responding to complaints about living conditions, little has been done to “realise” their housing rights.
They say some are beginning to give up hope, while others who had moved away expecting to return after regeneration may never return. They find 22 per cent of households are in overcrowded conditions and 38 per cent of respondents are worried regeneration will not be completed at all.
Dick Brady, assistant city chief executive, agreed there had been delays in submitting the planning application for phase one. He said this was due partly to the complexities of the consultation process and the volume of submissions made by residents, local businesses and utility companies.
Moving tenants out of the first three blocks for refurbishment was taking longer than anticipated, he said. Some 37 households had yet to be moved and the council was encountering problems finding alternative accommodation for them for two years.
