FINGAL COUNTY COUNCIL has confirmed that it is still engaged in negotiations with a developer to buy houses in Tyrrelstown, Co Dublin where 100 families face eviction.
Speaking in the Dáil yesterday, environment minister Alan Kelly said that the council, along with Prosper Fingal Housing Association, a voluntary housing body, had made moves to purchase the houses.
“Fingal County Council and Prosper Fingal Housing Association have been in contact and have been working on trying to purchase those units,” Kelly said.
The story broke a week ago that over 100 families renting properties in the area could face eviction due to investment bank Goldman Sachs purchasing a loan from Ulster Bank that property developer Twinlite had secured on the development of houses.
This morning, speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Margaret Geraghty, director of housing at Fingal County Council, confirmed that the council were in negotiations to try to purchase the houses from the developer.
“Fingal County Council has been in contact with the developer in Tyrrelstown with a view to purchasing a number of houses in that development,” said Geraghty.
As of yet those talks have not progressed.
Negotiations
Geraghty didn’t mention Prosper Fingal Housing Association directly but also said that “a housing body” had been in contact with the developer to negotiate the purchase of some of the units, which she said the council was ”very supportive of”.
Geraghty said that the developer (Twinlite) had approached the council with regards to selling the houses and that both sides had been in negotiations since, but that no movement had been made towards a deal as of yet.
“At this point in time I think we all need to appreciate that like any normal negotiations this has to be allowed to take its course,” said Geraghty.
It’s a sensitive issue for the residents and I don’t think it would be helpful to go into any further details in that.
The developer Twinlite has moved to assure the residents that they are not in immediate danger of eviction.
However, while it may be welcome news the the families that Fingal is negotiating to secure the units for social housing, it remains to be seen if any substantial movement will be made towards actually purchasing the homes.
“At this point in time contact with the developer through ourselves and through the housing association is ongoing and I think we need to let those discussions happen if that’s possible,” said Geraghty.
Fingal County Council has not walked away from this situation. We are open to purchasing a number of units in this development and finding some resolution if the developer is open to that and if everything else is in order.
Yesterday, residents of the area and members of the Tyrrelstown Tenants Action Group marched on the Dáil to highlight issue.
Anti Austerity Alliance TD Ruth Coppinger gave a speech to the Dáil on their behalf, calling the situation and the greater issue of homelessness the “most important issue in society and the country bar none”.
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