Labour councillor for the South West Inner City, Darragh Moriarty is calling on the council to ensure the ground floor of the future social housing development in Dolphin’s Barn is retained as a community space.
Moriarty told Southside People that there “are a number of apartments in the Cork Street area where the ground floor has been rented out as a commercial space and are currently lying empty.”
The site, which is located on the corner of South Circular Road and Dolphin’s Barn Street, has been vacant for 20 years and is currently in the possession of the council.
“The site was sold to a developer with approved planning permission,” says Moriarty.
“But the developer sat on the property for too long and the council took it back.
“It’s now been derelict for 20 years now and is an eyesore for the local community,” he says.
The council currently has plans to assign the development of the site to an approved housing body and construct 20 residential units, which are expected to be a mixture of social and affordable housing.
“We’re still at the very early stages of this process, but there have been expressions of interest from AHBs.
“I would have no problem with an AHB delivering the housing here, but it would need to stay in fully public ownership once complete,” he says.
Moriarty says that due to the size of the site, he would “favour 100% social housing, but would also be open to a mix of social and affordable, possibly 70:30.
“This has not yet been discussed with us and would depend on the nature of the interest received from AHBs.”
Moriarty has tabled a motion to the South Central Area Committee asking the council to not lease out the ground floor of the future development to a commercial enterprise and instead retain it as a community space.
“In recent developments you see the ground floor space lying vacant or under used after being rented commercially,” he says.
The motion reads: “That this Area Committee welcomes the long-awaited development of the derelict site at the corner of Dolphins Barn/South Circular Road for public housing and calls for Dublin City Council to explore and exhaust all opportunities available to provide a public or community service at ground-floor level.
“The Cork Street, Dolphins Barn and Fatima areas are full of apartment developments with vacant ground-floor commercial units.
“This Area Committee is of the view that a community use at this prime ground-floor location could inject much-needed life into Dolphins Barn village.”
Although the retention of the ground floor of a new development for a community space is not regular practice, Moriarty says he hopes his motion will get the support of fellow councillors and council executives.
It is expected that the motion will be tabled at the June South Central Area Committee meeting.