What would become of the Civic Offices on Wood Quay if the council relocates?
After The Currency reported the idea of the council moving its HQ, councillors were talking about and thinking through the pros and cons and implications.
As of April, only nine of the 23 ground-floor units across the Herberton Complex were occupied.
The Georgian building was once a meeting place for revolutionary leaders and the Gaelic League, and has been in council ownership, at least on paper, since 1998.
Because of its central location, the high footfall in the area, and its proximity to a lot of venues and cultural spaces, it’s become a premier flyering spot.
The council promised to start taking legal action against owners of derelict homes who don’t pay the levy going forward.
That would be welcome given the ongoing shortage of spaces in the developed neighbourhood, say councillors.
One landowner says that he doesn’t make that much from it, and is eager to develop the building.
Years back, the Office of Public Works said it would figure out what to do with the homes on Garda Terrace, but it still hasn’t yet said what.
A delay in a railway project means Iarnród Éireann won’t need it for a couple more years. “That was the only stumbling block, that it would be required back very shortly.”
The council’s current target is to knock and build new social homes on the site in the heart of the south-inner city by early 2028.
“It’s usually disappointing for essentially a state organisation to be sitting on derelict properties. It’s a very bad look.”
Seven of the Mulberry Cottages are on the derelict sites register, and there’s been little progress towards bringing them back into use.
“Chances are, in Dublin, if it has buddleia growing on it, it’s owned by the local authority,” says Ciarán Cuffe, the Green Party former MEP. “And that is not the way it should be.”