Councillors say it is ‘unacceptable’ that home not available in midst of housing crisis
Number 149 Harold’s Cross Road, which has boarded-up windows and graffiti on its walls, was bought by the department as part of a €23m purchase of the adjacent racetrack from Greyhound Racing Ireland.
The house, located on the left of the main entrance to the old greyhound track, which now hosts two Educate Together schools in temporary buildings, has been left derelict since the deal was completed in 2018.
Eoin Hayes, a Social Democrats councillor, said Harold’s Cross has seen an under-investment in new and refurbished housing. He said the non-use of Number 149 by the department for any kind of housing over the last six years was wrong.
“In my view it’s outrageous for any property to be vacant or derelict for longer than a period of six months in the middle of a housing crisis,” said Mr Hayes. “It’s just outrageous and it’s particularly galling when that’s being done by a public body.”
There are solutions and they have to start with state bodies
Fiona Connelly, a Labour councillor, said there were some 12,000 vacant properties between the two canals in Dublin and if everyone took the same attitude as the Department of Education the problem would never be addressed.
“It’s unacceptable,” she said. “There are solutions and they have to start with state bodies. It could have been made available under a meanwhile use or a short-term lease. We can’t have state bodies and departments deciding ‘it’s not on me’.”
The house has boarded-up windows and graffiti on its walls. Photo: Frank McGrath
Mr Hayes said the Department of Education’s decision not to make the house available for short-term accommodation demonstrated a lack of accountability in public bodies.
“I asked the Dublin city chief executive through the statutory process: ‘How many square metres does Dublin City Council have in vacant sites?’” he said.
“And he couldn’t tell me. So, there’s just a kind of mismanagement, just generally, within our public bodies on vacant and derelict sites and bringing them back into use. The Government clearly have not held any of the public bodies accountable for making sure that these things are being brought back into use. This is kind of endemic of the Dublin City Council area.”
Although two Educate Together schools have been established on the old greyhound track in temporary buildings, construction on the permanent schools only got under way in recent weeks. Mr Hayes said it should not have taken six years for the Department of Education to begin construction on the site.
“The New York subway system was built in four years,” said Mr Hayes. “And yet we can’t turn around a school in Harold’s Cross in 2024 in six.”
The department is examining the additional education opportunities that could be facilitated
A Department of Education spokesperson said 149 Harold’s Cross Road was included in the total site purchased in 2018 for the development of a new 16-classroom primary school and a 1,000 student secondary school.
“No decisions were made about the use of the property pending what role, if any, it needed to play in relation to the development and delivery of the overall school campus project,” it said.
“Now that the school campus development is under way, the department is examining the additional education opportunities that could be facilitated with this element of the property and ultimately its long-term use.
Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman has asked departments to make buildings available
“The department’s property portfolio is focused on the delivery of education facilities and would not typically involve any properties that could be used for residential purposes.”
Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman has made several pleas to state bodies and government departments to make buildings that could be suitable for emergency accommodation available as Ireland has been unable to provide housing to all asylum-seekers in the last two years. The Department of Education did not explain why Number 149 was not made available for such use.
It is understood the Irish Greyhound Board used the property to house its officials when race meetings were on in Harold’s Cross. Greyhound Racing Ireland, its current name, did not respond to questions about its former use of the house.
