Scheme to upgrade Dublin’s oldest flats at risk over Department of Housing funding decision

Plans to regenerate some of Dublin city’s oldest flat complexes are at risk following a Department of Housing decision not to fund projects that result in a significant reduction of homes.

The department has rejected the first phase of Dublin City Council’s long-planned redevelopment of Pearse House off Pearse Street in the city centre that was built almost 90 years ago. The redevelopment involves the amalgamation of small flats, which do not meet minimum size standards, to create larger homes.

The council seven years ago announced plans to regenerate more than 6,000 of the city’s oldest and most dilapidated flats under a 15-year plan to raise social housing standards across the city.

More than 100 flat complexes were to be included in the programme. All were more than 40 years old and some, such as St Michan’s House and Chancery House near the Four Courts, Oliver Bond House in the south inner city and Pearse House and Markievicz House on Townsend Street, were built in the 1930s.