Fitzpatrick says Dominick Street flat renovations are “glacial”

Fianna Fáil Senator Mary Fitzpatrick has called for Dublin City Council to speed up the renovation of empty boarded-up flats on Dominick Street.

Calling progress on the issue “glacial,” she said “allowing this prime site go undeveloped is a complete dereliction of Dublin City Council’s duty to provide housing in the city.”

Speaking in the Seanad, Senator Fitzpatrick called on Dublin City Council and the Department of Housing to provide an update on the regeneration of the flats on the West side of Dominick Street.

The regeneration of Dominick Street, which was first floated by Dublin City Council in 2008, was tapped to deliver 72 new homes on the East side of the street.

Progress has slowed to a trickle in recent years, and Fitzpatrick voiced her displeasure at the lack of progress.

“The timeline for a contractor to be on-site no earlier than Q1 2026 is hard to accept; we are in the middle of a housing crisis.”

“While the retrofitting and climate resilience ambitions of the project are admirable, these features should be standard and should not be used an excuse to further delay to the delivery of 75 new homes for families and individuals in the city.”

“Dublin City Council must do everything in their power to progress the project as quickly as possible,” she said.

“The flats, which have the potential to provide more than 90 homes, are now boarded up and stand as a monument to inactivity and glacial progress.”

Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond said that boarded-up houses are a “blight on society” because they show where families could be living.

“It does not matter whether it is on Dominick Street, in Ballyogan in my constituency or in Dundalk in the Chair’s constituency, it is something that all of us take very personally.”

Richmond said that works on the site will include securing the car park to the rear of Dominick Street Lower, which Fitzpatrick raised as an enabler of anti-social behaviour in the area, the erection of permanent hoarding to the front of the flats and a greening project in the vacant car park.

Richmond said that the Department of Housing is “on hand to give Dublin City Council every support” to get the vacant flats renovated and repurposed and back into the system.

“We want to provide the level of accommodation that the people of Dominick Street and people who will live there in the future deserve,” he said.

Fitzpatrick said she questioned the amount of time being spent on proposals, as there is a “real urgency” in the context of the housing crisis.

Addressing Richmond, she said “as the Minister of State, the misuse or under-use of built homes is vandalism and a complete dereliction of duty.” Richmond said he shared Fitzpatrick’s disappointment on the issue, and said he was happy to act as a conduit between his department and Dublin City Council.

“The capital is my home too and I know how dedicated she (Fitzpatrick) has been to the project for a long time. We all know that a large number of these flat complexes will, effectively, be rebuilt. The biggest priority is using them for housing for people who need homes,” he said.