Upcoming Events

Dublin | Housing

no events match your query!

New Events

Dublin

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Anti-Empire >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link What Do Britain?s Admirals Do All Day? Thu Feb 20, 2025 19:30 | David Craig
Since 1939 the number of admirals in the Royal Navy has shot up more than four-fold relative to the number of sailors. What do these highly-paid senior officers do all day, asks David Craig. It's more public sector waste.
The post What Do Britain’s Admirals Do All Day? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Doctors Who Change Gender Are Allowed to Scrub Past Wrongdoing from Public Record Thu Feb 20, 2025 18:31 | Will Jones
New public records for medics who change gender are wiped of previous suspensions and formal warnings, it has emerged, after the General Medical Council confirmed that this is its policy.
The post Doctors Who Change Gender Are Allowed to Scrub Past Wrongdoing from Public Record appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Mark Zuckerberg?s Charity Sacks Diversity Team as the Great Unwokening Gains Pace Thu Feb 20, 2025 16:06 | Will Jones
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative ? Mark Zuckerberg's multibillion-dollar charity ??has scrapped its diversity team and cancelled funding for projects promoting inclusivity as the Great Unwokening gains pace.
The post Mark Zuckerberg’s Charity Sacks Diversity Team as the Great Unwokening Gains Pace appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Yale Scientists Link Covid Vaccines to Alarming New Syndrome Causing Immune System Damage and Chroni... Thu Feb 20, 2025 13:38 | Will Jones
Scientists from Yale have discovered a syndrome linked to?the mRNA Covid vaccines that damages the immune system and causes chronic fatigue with spike protein persisting in the blood for up to two years.
The post Yale Scientists Link Covid Vaccines to Alarming New Syndrome Causing Immune System Damage and Chronic Fatigue appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Amanda Holden ?Took 28 Flights? for BBC Show Despite Net Zero Pledge Thu Feb 20, 2025 11:54 | Will Jones
Amanda Holden has said that she took 28?flights?to Spain during filming for a BBC DIY show, despite the corporation?s Net Zero pledge.
The post Amanda Holden “Took 28 Flights” for BBC Show Despite Net Zero Pledge appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Putin's triumph after 18 years: Munich Security Conference embraces multipolarit... Thu Feb 20, 2025 13:25 | en

offsite link Westerners and the conflict in Ukraine, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Feb 18, 2025 06:56 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?120 Fri Feb 14, 2025 13:14 | en

offsite link Did the IDF kill more Israelis on October 7, 2023, than the Palestinian resistan... Fri Feb 14, 2025 13:00 | en

offsite link JD Vance Tells Munich Security Conference "There's A New Sheriff In Town", by J.... Fri Feb 14, 2025 07:37 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Housing activists meet to discuss redevelopment & privatisation of their homes

category dublin | housing | news report author Tuesday December 07, 2004 15:14author by kevin - imc éire Report this post to the editors

Report back from Threshold seminar last Tuesday.

Report + 2 short audio MP3 interviews to download.

Approximately 50 housing activists, local residents, Threshold representatives and other individuals met up in the Gresham Hotel on Tuesday morning last week, for a seminar called "The Regeneration Game: Urban Regeneration & Community Involvement". The seminar was hosted by Threshold, which is a national housing organisation dedicated to ensuring housing and tenants rights for all.

The Director of Threshold Patrick Burke opened the seminar, and the first speaker was Declan Redmond, from the Dept. of Planning & Environmental Policy in UCD. He gave a presentation entitled "Government Policy on Social Housing Regeneration & PPPs", which focused on the many different policies which come into play with the construction of social & affordable housing. He called into question the logic and viability of PPP's (Public Private Partnerships), and speculated on the real reasons why the State was pushing PPPs rather than building long term social housing units. He also demonstrated Arnstein's "Ladder of Empowerment", which detailed the levels of citizen power, from the highs of "citizen control", "delegated power" and "partnership", to the lows of "cynical consultation" and "civic hype".

Next to speak was John Bissett from St. Michael's Estate in Inchicore. Rather than repeat his interpretation of the timeline of events from the campaign in St Michael's Estate, he felt it would be better to address the concept of State power and how it exerts itself on a disempowered community. He also examined the structures of power around the issue of the estate being redeveloped & privatised, which had been a learning process for all involved in the struggle there. The residents concept of the sphere of influence in the decisions being made expanded beyond their immediate environs as time progressed, taking in not just immediate bodies like community groups and Dublin City Council, but also more distant yet subtle bodies such as the European Union. It was an interesting and thought provoking presentation.

Joe O'Donoghue & Dorothy Walker from Fatima Groups United spoke next and talked about their experiences with the redevelopment of the Fatima Mansions complex in Dublin 8. They seemed reasonably positive and upbeat with the results they had gained from the extensive & exhaustive negotiations with Dublin City Council. Fatima Mansions is being redeveloped under a PPP. The final agreement allows for 150 public housing units, 70 affordable units, and a maximum of 369 private apartments; as well as a new purpose built neighbourhood centre, a leisure centre including a gym & swimming pool, and a retail and enterprise incubator space. They also mentioned how in Fatima Mansions they established an overarching representative community structure, which moved from a moral to a legitimate representation, when the majority of the community got involved, so the State couldnt undermine the community mandate.

Lena Jordan from O'Devaney Gardens at the west end of the North Circular Road in Dublin 7 was the final person to speak from the residents groups. O'Devaney Gardens is currently being redeveloped under a PPP scheme, and Lena talked about how the estate has been (under)managed over the years by Dublin City Council, the lack of resources and funding, and how issues such as poverty and drugs affected the community. She also outlines the hopes for the future with the redevelopment, and the possibilities & choices that local people have when it comes to further stages of negotiation between the tenants and local authorities.

Sinead Kelly from Trinity College Dublin gave a final shortened presentation due to time constraints, basically recapping the points that Declan Redmond had made earlier.

The attendees then split into two groups of about 20 people each for workshops. One dealt with the Future Direction of Housing Policy, the other with Community Participation in Housing Redevelopment Projects. In the second workshop, local residents from Tenants First, a grassroots community organisation representing tenants from local authoriy flat complexes around Dublin, talked of how it was sometimes difficult to engage people to fight against PPPs. If tenants have been disempowered for years, and their housing has been not maintained or repaired, then as soon as the offer of a new place comes along, people jump at the chance to escape from squalor - even if it may not be the best solution in the long run.

They also talked about how they can encourage other tenants to get involved in the campaign, and how that giving people as much information as possible was one of the best ways to educate and agitate. The phrase 'PPP' was not common knowledge among ordinary people. Another point was how to deal with authorities with massive power and resources, in comparison to poor communities who have constantly been under pressure; and how a local community can respond when the State starts to considerably exert that power.

Overall it was an interesting and encouraging seminar, and community workers plan to meet again in the new year to discuss their options, and share resources and information with each other so they can help each other with future struggles.

In the first audio clip, Joe O'Donoghue from Fatima Groups United talks about the regeneration plan for Fatima Mansions, and also explains what Tenants First is about.

In the second audio clip, Christine Taylor, who is a community worker with ICON in the North East Inner City, talks about Tenants First, the upcoming PPP plans in flat complexes around the city, the response from council flat tenants about the possibility of purchase, and current problems with social housing in Killarney Court (ex St Josephs Mansions in Summerhill) and Clarion Quay in the IFSC (re-housed residents from the old Sherriff Street flats).

Listen to Joe O'Donoghue from Fatima Mansions by clicking here to start downloading the MP3. The filesize is 3.0 megabytes.

Listen to Christine Taylor from ICON by clicking here to start downloading the MP3. The filesize is 7.3 megabytes.

Related Link: http://lithgow-schmidt.dk/sherry-arnstein/ladder-of-citizen-participation.html



testing
audio testing 0 Mb

© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy