Dublin City Flat Complex Retrofit and Regeneration: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-06
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Mark Ward (SF), Dublin Mid-West

I thank my constituency colleague, Deputy Ó Broin, for bringing forward this motion here today. The issue of regeneration of inner city flat complexes is not new. I was actually in Henrietta House today, canvassing on behalf of Janice Boylan for the upcoming by-election, and you could not meet a nicer bunch of residents. One woman I was speaking to asked me to come in here to give the Government hell for the conditions she has been left in. She also asked me to say "Up the flats", so I am saying "Up the flats" on her behalf. That is for you, Dee.
Dee, and residents like her, do not deserve to be left behind by this Government. My mother originally lived in Dolphin's Barn and my father lived in Keogh Square in Inchicore. They talk about the living conditions back in the 1960s but things have not improved. Dublin City Council has 100 flat complexes built right across the city, which were built between the 1930s and 1960s. Years of poor maintenance by the council, compounded by under-funding by central government, has created a situation where living conditions in these flat complexes are some of the worst you will see anywhere else, never mind in the city. We have seen countless reports of damp, mould, rodent infestation and chronic overcrowding in the flats. There are not enough sport facilities and community facilities, and this is so unfair for hardworking communities who have to live in these flat complexes, like the people I met in Henrietta House today.
Do you know what is even more absurd than having to live in these horrific conditions? It is being asked to pay more to live in them. Councillors from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Labour Party, the Green Party and some Independents inexcusably voted to increase rents on these hard-pressed families. You could not make it up. The message from these councillors is, "We are going to leave you in squalor but we are going to ask you to pay more for the privilege."

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-06/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:54+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-06