TEMPORARY ACCOMMODATION HAS been found for the Carrickmines survivors – but it won’t be at Rockville Drive.
The news came after days of talks between the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and residents of Rockville Drive.
This afternoon, the council confirmed temporary emergency accommodation for the surviving family members of the Glenamuck Road fire tragedy:
is to be provided at a council-owned car park which is adjacent to Ballyogan Works Depot with its own private access road which is also in council ownership.
Talks had been taking place over the last week with residents of Rockville Drive / Glenamuck Drive, and progress was made, but the council “was faced with an untenable and unacceptable situation where the families would have nowhere to live from this weekend”.
In a statement, the council said:
The priority is as it has always been to provide the family members with a more suitable and stable home environment within which they can begin to rebuild their lives
The new site is not ideal in that it has not got full access to all the basic services unlike the Rockville Drive site but our staff are committed to working round the clock to make it ready for the surviving family members for occupation by the weekend.
The site is currently used on a daily basis by council staff and is located adjacent to the Ballyogan Depot. It has a dedicated private entrance and access road.
The council has bought three-bedroomed mobile homes for the families. These will have water and electrical services installed and the homes will be ready for the families to move into at the weekend.
The site is located on a hard car park surface, which will be re-located to an adjacent location.
Once converted, the site will also have all appropriate safety measures included, said the council:
The site is a 15-minute walk from where the family have been living.
However, there is currently no sewerage connection on the site. The council pointed out:
The absence of a sewerage connection was one of the reasons for not recommending this site at an earlier stage but with no alternative at this point, the council will provide temporary facilities to overcome this problem.
The spokesperson said the decision to facilitate the family with emergency accommodation at the Ballyogan site was made with “great reluctance”:
The family has suffered enormous loss and our absolute priority was to ensure accommodation was provided to the surviving members of the tragedy by this weekend. We had worked hard and hoped to proceed with the more suitable, fully serviced Rockville Drive site but ultimately an agreement was not possible within the timeframe.
The council’s legal advice indicated that seeking an injunction “would almost certainly have resulted in delays which would have seen the family effectively without anywhere to live”.
Today’s decision has been made “to avoid time-consuming litigation and negotiation and to ensure the family can begin to rebuild their lives as soon as possible”.
The council is “putting our resources into ensuring the Ballyogan site is converted and available by the weekend”.
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