The collapse of social housing construction deals between the Peter McVerry Trust and Dublin City Council has left derelict and vacant sites remaining across the city and resulted in lengthy delays in the delivery of much-needed homes.
Due to the financial and governance crises that have dogged the charity for the last 18 months, the trust has withdrawn from building six social housing projects, which were to have been funded by the city council.
The council has now reached agreement with two housing bodies to redevelop its sites at Fishamble Street, Dublin 8, and at Halston Street, Dublin 7.
New providers have yet to be identified for sites on Sherrard Street, Shaw Street, Echlin Street and the Weir Home, Cork Street.
The council site at 29-30 Fishamble Street, adjacent to the Civic Offices, the council’s headquarters, has been derelict for more than 70 years. Several attempts to redevelop it for housing have been made by the council and independent groups, but all have failed.
[ Peter McVerry Trust drops six Dublin city social housing projectsOpens in new window ]
In 2012 the council had designated the site, previously occupied by two 18th-century buildings, for a “mom and pop developer” project, where households would form a co-op to build their own apartments.
Several groups applied and a successful bidder was chosen, but in late 2015 withdrew largely due to financing difficulties and the council shelved the project.
In July 2018, the council decided to use the site for its first “modular” apartment scheme for social housing. Tenders were sought for prefabricated “rapid delivery” apartments. However, the following February the council dropped the scheme due to spiralling construction costs. It had set aside €1.5 million for five apartments, but the cheapest construction tender for the job was €3 million, equal to €600,000 per apartment.
In 2023 the trust announced it would build 10 apartments in a six-storey block, at an estimated cost of €4.3 million.
The project did not secure planning permission before charity became mired in financial and governance issues in mid-2023. It has since required a €15 million state bailout and has been the subject of adverse reports by the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority, the Charities Regulator and the Comptroller & Auditor General.
Iveagh Trust chief executive Aidan Culhane said while it was at an early stage of involvement with Fishamble Street it was “delighted to be associated” with the site. “The Iveagh Trust was founded just around the corner in the Liberties and this site is right in the heart of our Dublin 8 base.” It was now evaluating the McVerry trust’s preliminary plans, Mr Culhane said.
At 5-7 Halston Street, the McVerry trust secured planning permission for 12 apartments on a council site close to the Victorian fruit and vegetable market. Permission was granted last June, but at that stage it was clear the charity would not be in a position to proceed with the scheme.
Tuath Housing has agreed to take on the development. Martin Loughran, Tuath’s chief commercial officer said it would use the existing planning permission and it hoped to complete the development by early 2027. Before the trust withdrew from the project it had been due for completion this year.
In 2018 the council approved the McVerry trust to develop social housing at a council site on Shaw Street behind O’Neill’s pub on Pearse Street, vacant since a terrace of houses was demolished to make way for the construction of the loopline rail bridge in 1889.
In 2020 the trust was granted planning permission for 12 apartments. In April 2022 Pat Doyle, who was its chief executive, and Darragh O’Brien, then Minister for Housing, “turned the sod” on the development. However, following that photo opportunity, the project has not progressed. The council said the project was now under review by an alternative approved housing body.
The Weir Home, an Edwardian building in the grounds of Ireland’s oldest remaining Quaker cemetery, on Cork Street, accommodated nurses until the 1970s and is owned by the HSE.
Since the early 1980s it had been used as a mental health facility, but due to its age and condition, the HSE relocated its residents to Grangegorman on the north side of the city.
Five years ago it was announced the trust intended to convert the building into about 20 apartments in a council-funded scheme. However, the transfer to the trust never went ahead.
The HSE said it was offering the site to “all state stakeholders”. If no formal expression of interest is received by the end of next month, it will put the property on the open market.
Almost seven years ago it was announced three large Victorian buildings at 26-28 Sherrard Street Upper in Dublin’s north inner city, owned by the Jesuit order, would be transferred to the trust for a council-funded housing project. In 2019 permission was secured for 12 apartments.
The development never went ahead, and the buildings are still in partial office use, with some rooms used for Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. The buildings are in the ownership of the trust and the council said no other housing body has asked about progressing the project.
At 5 Echlin Street, beside Harkin’s bar, planning permission was granted in 2019 to demolish the vacant two-storey building, formerly a newsagent’s, and replace it with a new retail unit and four apartments in three storeys above.
However, the owner at the time, Tony Goldrick, said the project became unviable due to the lack of accommodation. A subsequent application did away with the retail element and a block of nine apartments was instead granted in 2022. The trust was approved for council funding to undertake the development, although it at that stage it remained in private ownership.
The scheme never progressed, and the property was sold late last year to Stephen Harkin, who owns the neighbouring pub. Mr Harkin will shortly reopen the shop as a “gourmet cafe/deli” and intends to submit a new application for the site, which will include expansion of the pub’s facilities and a small number of apartments, but these will be for his own family and not social housing, Mr Harkin said.
The Peter McVerry Trust declined to comment.
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