Shameful backtracking on Oliver Bond flats commitments
Shameful backtracking on Oliver Bond flats commitments - The Labour Party
- Refusal to fund Phase 1 of regeneration project inexcusable
- Minister needs to let DCC get on with estate regeneration
Labour’s housing spokesperson Conor Sheehan TD said Government’s decision to pull the plug the regeneration commitment made to Oliver Bonds is disgraceful.
Raising it with the Taoiseach in the Dáil today, Deputy Sheehan urged Government to reverse this cruel decision.
Cllr Darragh Moriarty described the decision as disgusting and gut wrenching, opting for optics over delivering for people who need it most.
Deputy Sheehan said:
“The decision to walk away from commitments to the Oliver Bond regeneration project is a breach of trust, a failure of responsibility and a clear dereliction of duty. For decades, this almost 400 flat development in the heart of Dublin’s Liberties has been beset by damp, mould and severe antisocial behaviour.
“The decision to backtrack on commitments to regenerate the complex is reprehensible. High levels of mould and dampness have been documented, with a 2024 study finding that over 80% of residents reported these issues.
“Research has shown that residents are 2.4 times more likely to have asthma compared to other local patients, linking poor housing directly to health rights.
“The European Committee of Social Rights found in 2017 (and reiterated in later reports) that Ireland was in breach of its obligations regarding social housing quality, specifically citing damp and mouldy conditions.
“It’s a shameful step in the wrong direction. I’m calling directly on the Taoiseach, the Minister for Housing and his Department to stop interfering in estate regeneration because of an arbitrary obsession with units.
“Central Government must let Dublin City Council get on with estate generation, rather than looking for excuses to backtrack. Today’s news also leaves questions for the Pearse House flat regeneration project. The disrepair of homes in respect of which DCC is the landlord is deeply concerning, and it cannot be allowed to fall off the political agenda.”
Cllr Darragh Moriarty for the South West Inner City area, said:
“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.
“I’ve sat on the Oliver Bond Regeneration Forum since it was established and we have never been closer to the start of this project becoming a reality.
“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, cramped and overcrowded conditions. 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.
“This is a crisis of this Government’s making due to decades of underfunding and neglect. The families and people of Oliver Bond are collateral damage in the Government’s efforts to play optics and inflate their housing delivery numbers. It is shameful.
“The Government must reverse this disgraceful and tone deaf decision as a matter of urgency and James Browne must commit to visiting Oliver Bond, standing in one of the flats that is falling down around him and answer the question, would he live like that?”