DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL will return to the Supreme Court on 24 April to try and overturn a High Court judgement ordering it to provide temporary accommodation to Priory Hall residents.
The full hearing will decide if the council should take on the financial responsibility of housing the residents until their apartments are inhabitable again.
The residents committee said that the affected homeowners now have just two months to try and find a solution and avoid insolvency.
They say that bankruptcy will be inevitable if they are “forced to pay a mortgage on a home they cannot live in” as well as a rental property to “keep a roof over their heads”.
The committee has called on Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan to meet with the residents and to help get all stakeholders together to find a solution. They also urged banks to freeze the Priory Hall mortgages with no impact on credit ratings.
Graham Usher, spokesman for the group, said residents “are not looking for a bailout, just the breathing space to work on a solution without being ruined financially”.
Dublin City Council has brought its appeal to the Supreme Court as it has been paying accommodation costs for Priory Hall residents for months and says it cannot afford to do so.
It has spent more than €700,000 on housing the 256 residents – mostly in hotels and NAMA properties – since they were evacuated on 17 October 2011.
The Donaghmede complex was condemned due to fire hazard concerns and the necessary repairs have not been carried out. Its developer Tom McFeely has since been declared bankrupt in England. With a repairs bill of €7.3 million which the council, developer and resident all say they cannot afford to pay, it is unclear when (if ever) the residents will be able to move back in.
The issue was raised in the Dáil earlier today as Sinn Féin deputy Mary Lou McDonald tried to put pressure on the Government to meet with residents.
In response, Eamon Gilmore said he cared more about the people rather than the politics of the events. He also caused controversy as he referred to McFeely as a Sinn Féin developer.
McFeely was sentenced to jail for three months and fined €1 million for failing to carry out remedial works as ordered by the courts. However, the judge in the case later granted a reprieve.
The residents’ committee noted that the council did not turn up to argue against McFeely’s request for a stay.
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