Recent television reports on the appalling conditions in St Teresa's Gardens, a large Dublin Corporation flats complex in the inner city, may have failed to tell the whole story of the Corporation's actions on its housing stock.
Dublin Corporation is currently engaged in major refurbishment and rebuilding of its flats complexes, and because one such refurbishment is currently getting underway in St Teresa'a gardens, the flats are restricted to use only for what Dublin Corporation calls "crisis accommodation". In this light many of the people who are accommodated in St Teresa's Gardens are in very urgent need of help in other areas as well, but it should not be taken for granted that this is standard corporation fare.
In the Liberties, for example, Dublin Corporation has been engaged in a major renewal of the area through rebuilding and refurbishing existing corporation housing schemes. One such scheme is the Bridgefoot Street Area Project.
This is a collection of 143 corporation flats at Bridgefoot Street, Bonham Street and Island Street, set out in five interconnecting blocks. The flats were built in 1964 and display a number of defects. Major work is now being carried out to bring them up to modern standards of comfort, security and energy efficiency. Dublin Corporation has come a long way since the days when it built houses and allocated them on a take-it or leave-it basis; a wide range of demographic and social factors are taken into account. These factors affect decisions on the size and layout of flats and the types of leases granted. To influence these decisions, local residents work closely with Dublin Corporation's project team - in the case of the Bridgefoot area, led by Mr Paul Russell - in planning and implementing the project. Because the social needs were different in 1964 the project involves the demolition of two of the five blocks and the total refurbishment, inside and out, of the remaining three blocks. There will also be new duplex housing and a variety of innovative urban passive and recreational open spaces. The estimated cost of the proposed development is £19 million and the builder is Bracegrade Ltd, which has experience of refurbishing Dublin Corporation properties. Construction of 56 apartments and houses in the first phase of the project began late last year. A residents' committee has developed a vision of what the future will bring residents of the area. The aim is for a community with average unemployment levels, a low school drop-out rate and the type of physical streetscape which encourages neighbourliness as well as safety.
The Enterprise and Employment officer with the Liberties/ Coombe Integrated Area Project has helped to identify individuals in the community who could become trained for employment. Other agencies are also involved in job creation schemes and significant strides have been made in community development through the work of a community development officer, Mr Bobby Neill.
Mr Richard Keane, chairman of the residents' committee, has devised a small-scale social inclusion programme that is geared towards the recreational needs of young people. The programme will even cover such items as a "homework club" and, in the long term, creche facilities. The committee is determined to ensure the community will develop its potential as a model for other communities in inner-city flats complexes.
