Dereliction, Housing Crisis Top Concerns for Dublin Bye-Election Voters

The upcoming bye-election in Dublin Central highlights a persistent and deeply felt issue: dereliction and its impact on the housing crisis. For residents, walking past vacant properties while rents and house prices soar is not just an eyesore; it's an outrage. The current situation, where hundreds of properties lie empty and many more are under consideration for the derelict register, demands urgent attention.

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It's not a good thing for the local residents and in general, especially when there's a housing crisis, rents are rising, house prices are rising, for everyone to be just walking past, seeing these houses. I think it's an outrage, and I think it should be resolved.

Experts like Robert Cross, who meticulously tracks dereliction, point to systemic failures. The case of two Victorian houses in Phibsborough, acquired by the council years ago for social housing, only to have redevelopment plans abandoned due to escalating costs, exemplifies the problem. This isn't just about neglect; it's about a failure to intervene early and effectively. The council's role should extend beyond acquisition to providing grants, advice, and support to landlords to prevent properties from falling into such disrepair.

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What happened was actually because of extensive rain, a cascade of water was coming down, damaging the front facade, but also undermining the actual foundations causing subsidence. At this stage, it's too late, before it becomes derelict, that's when the local authority, needs to come in and help the landlord with grants, advice, is there loans available, sustainable energy grants? I think that needs to be more proactive and then we will avoid this situation

Technological solutions, such as improved mapping and AI-driven analysis of data from utility companies and delivery services, offer a path forward. Identifying vacant properties accurately and proactively is crucial for efficient resource allocation. Dublin City Council must embrace these tools to get a true measure of the problem and implement targeted solutions. The current approach is clearly not working, and voters are making their voices heard.

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They need to map all the properties, and especially the vacant properties, and actually to see what we're dealing with. Because if you can't, you can't measure, you just can't manage it. We have the tools now. We have these databases, we have AI to analyse.