Councillors have criticised Fingal County Council for pushing ahead with plans to demolish four family homes in Fortlawn.
Despite objections from local councillors and residents, the council voted to back a proposed redevelopment of the housing estate in Dublin 15.
The housing debate took up 2 and a half hours of the council’s 3-hour meeting on February 9; the debate, at times, was often heated and charged, with emotions running high.
As part of the plans, four family homes, which are currently occupied, will be demolished to make way for 21 new homes.
The site, located in the Fortlawn area of Blanchardstown, was identified as part of Fingal County Council’s 2023 to 2029 development plan.
The council’s housing chief, Paul Carroll, insisted that the local authority would work with the affected families to “achieve the right housing solution for all of them,” but said there wasn’t a fixed timeline “for obvious reasons.”
In the context of the wider housing crisis, previous council meetings were told that there is a 7,000+ strong waiting list for social housing on Fingal County Council alone.
The housing discussion, raised at this month’s council meeting, heard that over 300 submissions were made during the public consultation process.
Councillors were presented with the development plan, with the presentation stating that the elimination of various cul-de-sacs in the estates will help eliminate anti-social behaviour in the area, a charge which Sinn Féin councillor Angela Donnelly rejected.
She questioned where the anti-social behaviour claims came from, and whether the Gardaí were aware of the issues in the area.
“It just doesn’t make sense to me – I’d really like to hear what sort of conversations or what sort of advice you got from the guards on this.”
Donnelly said “comments made about the Fortlawn community by council officials were unfair, untrue and do not describe the vibrant community I know.”
“This plan is saying it’s going to deal with all this anti-social behaviour and Fortlawn is being painted as the Wild West,” she added.
Donnelly’s Sinn Féin colleague Breda Hanaphy said, “from day one, this whole process has been handled very unprofessionally by the council.”
Labour councillor John Walsh said he was “very disappointed and angry for the community in Fortlawn and especially the four families whose homes are threatened with demolition after the Council decision this week.”
“This decision ignores the overwhelming rejection of the Part 8 plan by the people of Fortlawn in the consultation.”
The Castleknock councillor criticised Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors for voting down a proposed plan by fellow councillors to keep the houses.
“They (Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael) prefer a plan that delivers only two homes in the short term and will leave more houses boarded up in Fortlawn,” he remarked.
Walsh stated, “consultation has to mean something and can’t simply be set aside when it delivers the wrong outcome,” and added, “we are being asked to ride roughshod” on the issue.
Fianna Fáil councillor Darragh Butler, from Swords, said “we are hearing the same old record” on the housing issue.
“We are all in favour of additional housing – until it’s in our area,” he remarked.
“There always appears to be a reason; from what I’ve seen in this debate, Fingal County Council have been extremely accommodating to the tenants. The existing tenants will be taken care of, and we will be getting 17 new units.”
Butler said that there are 17 families who are “desperate to get a home.”
“This comes down to the fact that everyone is shouting up and down for additional units and that’s what we’re going to have at the end of this. The council are working, and will continue to work with the families. We need to do this. No one is being disadvantaged here.”
Walsh’s Labour colleague, Mary McCamley, said, “I have been on the council since 2011, and never once have any of the councillors in my area gone against housing or social housing. We have always supported housing 100%. But this is different.”
“These people are in these houses for 20 years, they’ve worked hard on them, they’ve looked after them, they’ve paid their rent; why put them out? There has to be an alternative plan. We are not saying we don’t want houses in the area, we are saying we don’t want houses knocked down in the area.”
The Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart councillor hit back at Butler’s veiled charges that the opposition parties were objecting to housing in their particular area.
McCamley said “there can be an alternative plan where people can stay in their area, and I don’t want people in this council accusing me of not wanting houses in my area; I live in a social housing area, and I have always voted for social housing and I don’t want anyone accusing me of being that person who doesn’t want housing.”
Social Democrats councillor Joan Hopkins said it was “unacceptable” that the government parties were accusing opposition parties of objecting to housing, saying “it simply isn’t true.”
“I don’t object to housing; in every single case that comes to us, we judge them on their merits. It is unacceptable for people to say we don’t want social housing units in our backyard. It is completely untrue.”
Solidarity councillor John Burtchaell said that nearly 350 submissions were made during the public consultation; he remarked that it was an “unprecedented” level of engagement, and a sign that the planned demolitions should not go ahead.
“The people who have suffered the anti-social behaviour have said this isn’t going to work. The four houses should not be demolished. As a matter of democracy and community relations, the council really should have withdrawn the Part 8 at that point. If that level of opposition does not give pause for thought, on what grounds exactly does the council withdraw it?”
The Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart councillor said, “it’s overwhelming opposition; I don’t think it’s a good idea, even if the vote is passed tonight, it would be trampling over the local community, and we shouldn’t be doing it.”
A local resident started a petition to save their home, saying, “we’ve created an award-winning community garden to tackle antisocial behaviour and bring neighbours together. These homes are lived in by the very people helping to strengthen this area.”
“We were never consulted. No letters. No meetings. Just the devastating news that our homes could be taken from us,” they said.
A proposed amendment to the plan was proposed by Donnelly, Walsh, Hanaphy and Burtchaell, along with Aontú councillors Ellen Troy and Gerard Sheehan, and Sinn Féin councillors Malachy Quinn and John Smyth.
The motion called for a “revised plan which does not necessitate the demolition of family homes and could deliver four homes in the short term instead of two.”
Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and independents voted down the opposition motion by 20 votes to 17.
Labour broke ranks with their Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael coalition colleagues for the third time in as many months on the issue; it took the support of independent councillors for this particular motion to pass.
Labour are the joint-biggest party on Fingal County Council along with Fine Gael, with both parties on seven councillors apiece in the wake of the June 2024 local elections.
In recent months, Labour has broken ranks with its coalition partners in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael on the issue of the Local Property Tax and the budget for 2026, hinting at potential tension within the governing coalition.