Protest at modular homes site is over

CONSTRUCTION of 22 modular homes on a site in Poppintree, Ballymun, began again last week following three days of protest.

The entrance to the site had been blocked by members of CTSL Co-Op, who had paid deposits of €5,000 for homes earmarked for the land, and housing activists.

However, Co-Op supporters left the site just before lunchtime on Friday, November 27, and requested other groups to stop protesting too.

Dublin City Council had hoped to have the modular homes for homeless families occupied by Christmas but the three-day protest may jeopardise the deadline.

A spokesperson for CTSL Co-op said that while work on the site had stopped for four and half days, the protest had lasted less than three.

“We continue to ask people to stay away from the site as it will be all too convenient for DCC to blame this delay on protestors,” the spokesperson said.

Dublin City Council confirmed that work on the site had begun again.

“An agreement in principle has been reached with O Cualann Housing Co-operative regarding the development of co-operative housing on the remainder of the site,” a spokesperson said.

“We understand that there is an agreement in place between the housing co-operatives involved on how to progress other outstanding issues.”

The CTSL Co-Op had obtained planning permission for 40 homes as far back as 2007 but the project ran into red tape when it came to drawing down finance.

Progress began again when it was taken over last year by O’Cualann Co-Housing Alliance but the announcement that modular homes were to be built on the site put another question mark over the project.

The protestors said they had no problem with modular homes but were fed-up with constant delays and barriers to their project.

Meanhile, Cllr Noeleen Reilly (SF) believes the modular units will not be temporary in Ballymun as there are no building programmes in place for the area between now and 2017.

“The council’s own building programme has not one social housing development planned,” she said.

“So I would ask: where does the council expect families to move to if they are not building alternative accommodation?

“As work recommences on the modular units, families moving into them need to be given a realistic time frame for how long they will be there.

“The housing department has said that they expect families to be in the modular units for six months. That’s not realistic.”