Council Briefs: Affordable Housing, and the Future of Dalymount

Tuesday’s meeting of councillors in the city’s North West Area was due to start at 2:30pm. But they didn’t have a quorum – enough councillors in the room to press ahead with the meeting, under the council rules.

Maybe, they could treat it like a GAA match, said Sinn Féin Councillor Anthony Connaghan. They could kick off, and other players join in when they arrived. Eventually, independent Councillor Cieran Perry arrived at 2:40pm. The meeting started.

Dalymount Park

Sinn Féin Councillor Séamas McGrattan wanted to know what community representation there would be on the Dalymount Steering Group, the bundle of people being put together to help oversee plans for the future of Dalymount Park – the big stadium and home to Bohemian F.C. – in Phibsboro.

Locals wanted to know, said McGrattan. Assistant Area Manager Aiden Maher said he would be able to answer that next month.

In the meantime, the closing date for the tender to appoint a project manager would be 4 January, and the design brief was close to done, said Maher.

Affordable Housing

Councillors were split on whether or not to sell a plot of land on Balbutcher Lane in Ballymun to Ó Cualann Co-Housing Alliance that could potentially build fourteen homes.

The approved housing body has said it wants to build “an affordable type co-operative housing scheme” at the site, the council report says. It has already built an affordable cooperative estate in the neighbourhood, with homes selling for as little as €140,000.

Most councillors said they backed the sale of this extra slice of land to Ó Cualann. But independent Councillor Noeleen Reilly said she wanted it deferred – so, delayed for a bit. There hadn’t been discussion with local residents, she said.

Maher said he didn’t mind pushing it back a month. “This is a very tight valuable tenure coming into Ballymun and think we need to keep moving on it,” he said at the meeting.

Councillors from the area needed to be on the same page about the sale of the site before the issue goes to a full council meeting in February, said Maher. He knows some other councillors at the full meeting might not be keen on it, he said.

Councillors agreed to defer the “disposal” of the site until February so the plans be discussed with residents.