Man fatally stabbed in Dublin apartment taken over by ‘cuckooing’ drug users, neighbours say

A Dublin City Council apartment where a man was fatally stabbed on Tuesday was subject to “cuckooing”, where a vulnerable person’s home is taken over by drug users to take and sell drugs, according to neighbours.

A man in his 30s was found with stab wounds shortly after 2.30am at the apartment at Claddagh Court, an older-people housing complex in Ballyfermot. A woman in her 40s was arrested and was being held at Clondalkin Garda station on Tuesday evening. The deceased man has been named locally as David Ennis.

Elderly neighbours at the 49-unit gated complex said the apartment where the stabbing occurred was the home of a man in his late 80s who was “vulnerable”. He was not at the complex on Tuesday as the body of the man was removed from his home shortly after noon.

Neighbours described the elderly man as “quiet” and as someone who struggled to look after himself, with mobility problems. They said, given his vulnerability, he needed more support from the council to deal with the situation.

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They said they had reported antisocial behaviour around the man’s apartment for over two years and in the complex for several years to both Dublin City Council and the Garda. They said the council told them that the people at his apartment were “his carers”. Residents said there was frequent loud shouting and music late at night from the address.

Mick White, chair of the resident’s association, told The Irish Times there were frequently “young fellas coming in to buy drugs”. Asked how they accessed the complex given that it is secured, he said those staying in the man’s apartment let people in “with the intercom”.

“I wouldn’t use the lift. They’d be urinating in it, but some people with mobility problems have to use it,” Mr White said.

A man in his 60s who did not want to be named said: “Every Tom, Dick and Harry was in and out. We told the council a few months ago: ‘This is getting worse now. Some people are afraid to use the stairs’.”

Two women in their 70s said they were afraid to leave their apartments. “It’s like Fort Knox. The young fellas are intimidating people when they are smoking hash in the lift. The smell would knock you down, and the council wouldn’t do anything about it.”

Another woman said: “My son had to bring me home and bring me up to my apartment. Now imagine that in a gated community. You can’t go out.”

One resident who did not want to be named said she had thought people visiting the apartment were carers for the man. “But then it went, things were happening. There was roaring coming from the apartment. We were about six months asking the council to look into it.”

Council officials issued “warnings” but said there was nothing further they could do, she added.

Residents said local Dublin City Council staff used to visit the complex weekly but since Covid were far less often on-site.

Local councillor Hazel Norton has been calling on the local housing section to intervene to support tenants at Claddagh Court since 2018, and more regularly in the past two years. “This is a classic case of ‘cuckooing’ and a prime example of DCC not managing and supporting vulnerable tenants.”

She said both the man whose apartment had been taken over and his neighbours had needed better support from the local authority. “It was clear he was vulnerable. It should have been tackled head on.”

She said the council had told her an assessment indicated those staying with him were friends,despite the warnings from neighbours. She would be seeking “a detailed report”, adding it was “not an isolated incident of antisocial behaviour in properties not being managed”.

A spokesman for Dublin City Council said: “An Garda Síochána is currently investigating the circumstances. Dublin City Council is not making any further comment at this time.”

A Garda spokesman said: “An Garda Síochána does not comment on remarks made by third parties. All calls made in relation to welfare of individuals and antisocial behaviour receive an immediate policing response, and where evidence of criminal behaviour is established investigations are conducted.”