The number of homes in a new Dublin City Council housing scheme will have to be halved to accommodate tram "stables" for the new Luas line extension to Finglas, it has emerged.
The council had secured full Government approval for 120 social and affordable homes at a site close to Broombridge station in Cabra. The homes would have been among the first in the city built under the State's new local authority affordable-housing purchase scheme.
However, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) has said it needs to requisition one-third of the site to use as parking for its trams for the extension of the Luas Green Line to Finglas. The council said this will leave it with space for just 50 to 60 homes.
The council bought the site of the former Premier Chickens factory on Bannow Road in early 2020 and subsequently secured approval from the department of housing for 120 social and affordable homes there, with plans to start the 18-month building programme by the end of 2022.
On Tuesday, Marcello Corsi, project manager for Luas Finglas, said TII had not known the site had been bought by the council for housing when it was selected as a "stable" yard for trams. However, he said there was no other option for tram parking to facilitate the Finglas Luas, which is due to begin operations in 2031.
“We have done a lot and we are really in [a] cul-de-sac at the moment, there are no additional areas where we can find the space here. Of all the options we looked at this is by far the most practicable,” he said.
Storage limitations
The Green Line currently runs from Sandyford to Broombridge. There was no further tram storage capacity at Sandyford, Mr Corsi said, and there was not a sufficiently large plot available at Charlestown, which would be the new terminus of the line when it is extended to Finglas.
"Unfortunately we are in a corner for tram stabling capacity," he said."There is no alternative for parking trams for Luas Finglas unless we build a third depot, which is absolutely impossible to do. There is no space to do that on land within the M50 even if we wanted to do it." There was already a state-of-the-art maintenance yard at Broombridge, he said, and "we need to have trams stabled close to the maintenance yard".
“I understand the level of frustration, but Luas Finglas unfortunately has no other options because we looked at several areas and they just don’t exist,” he added.
Labour councillor Declan Meenagh said it was "immensely disappointing" that potential homes would be lost in the middle of a housing crisis. "Taking one-third of the site" would be "devastating", he said.
Independent councillor Cieran Perry said the council had found it extremely difficult to secure any housing land in Cabra. “It is one of the most deprived areas of potential building space.”
The council said that while it would retain 70 per cent of the site, “our current preliminary studies show between 50-60 units achievable on the remainder of the site. Further, more detailed design work will be required to verify this result.”
