"THE only people who'll be sorry to see them go are the drug-pushers," said Mr Danny Kelly yesterday, pointing towards the Ballymun tower block in which he has been living for eight years.
The high-rise blocks have enabled dealers to take root in the area, he said. "I'm glad they're going. They're a drug haven.
One man, who did not want to be named, said that drug-dealing was so common at his spine block, the first on Coultry Road, that "you'd be lucky to get past the door there are so many of them, even at 9.30 a.m." Living with his girlfriend and three children in a one-bedroom flat, he has for the past five years been trying to move to a new estate.
In the next eight-storey block, Ms Anita Whelan (16) said she would be happy to see the flats demolished. "There's nothing to do around here. It's really boring. There's just a youth club and a disco which are only for young kids," she said.
In its present condition, it is an unsuitable area to raise children in, she added. "I'll wait until I'm older and then I'm going."
Not everyone, however, thinks poorly of Ballymun. Mr Tony O'Connor, who moved into one of the first tower blocks in 1968 and now lives in nearby Sillogue Gardens, said: "It's been a great place for my kids to grow up". When the flats were first built, he said, they were "beautiful. People really looked after the place. They cleaned their landings and the yards. But in the last 10 years it's gone downhill."
Ms Jackie Ross moved to the area almost four years ago when the housing development she lived in on Sean McDermott Street was upgraded. She said she would hate to see the same movement of people out of Ballymun as a result of the plan. "It would be terrible to see the community breaking up," she said.
A worker at the local women's resource centre, she added that the good heating which can be found in the high-rise buildings will also be missed. "It's going to cost people more to heat their homes. That's going to put an extra strain, particularly on the unemployed."
Ms Noleen O'Toole, who lives in a block on Sillogue Avenue, said there should be compensation for tenants who recently spent money on their homes. "I've just done up the kitchen for about £1,200. I hope we'll be paid now if they're going to knock it down," she said.
