Madam, - The recent collapse of the public-private partnership involving MacNamara Construction was a devastating blow for the residents of the three public housing estates that were due to be regenerated.
The residents had participated in the consultation and planning phase in good faith in the expectation that their living conditions would be radically improved. In addition to the three estates effected by this crisis - O'Devaney Gardens, Dominic Street and St Michael's Estate - a further three housing estates in the inner city - St Teresa's Gardens, Charlemont Street and Croke Villas - are also depending on PPPs to provide new housing and community facilities.
In total, there are more than 800 families, comprising 2,000 people including more than 900 children, living in housing and environmental conditions that have seriously deteriorated in recent years as they await regeneration through the private sector.
Almost 80 per cent of these families are headed by single parents, almost exclusively women, who are having to cope, in many cases, with extreme poverty. These families can not be expected to wait any longer for adequate housing and living conditions, which are their right.
The board of the Dublin Inner City Partnership (DICP), at its recent meeting, decided to support the call from local residents for the Minister for the Environment to intervene urgently to secure the Exchequer funding for Dublin City Council to provide the social housing directly.
The partnership has put forward a case to the Minister that a total investment of €235 million is required to construct 797 social housing units on the existing sites. The efforts of local residents and their community organisations, elected representatives and City Council officials, all of whom are trying to resolve this crisis, are seriously constrained by the current Department of Environment position that the PPP process is the only mechanism available to provide publicly owned social housing in these communities.
In our view, it is vital that the Minister removes this constraint. In the meantime, it is essential that urgent remedial work is undertaken on the current housing stock in these estates to provide the living conditions to which the residents are entitled. - Yours, etc,
DAVID CONNOLLY, Director, Dublin Inner City Partnership, Upper Ormond Quay, Dublin 7.