A HOUSE IN south Dublin that was built close to a decade ago and has lain vacant for over a decade has been put up for sale.
1A St Patrick’s Road, Clondalkin, is up for sale by Ray Cooke Auctioneers with an asking price of €400,000.
The 4-bedroom, detached house is situated at near the end of the road next to a small green space.
South Dublin County Council began the process of building the house in 2006 in order to make use of vacant space at the end of the road and combat anti-social behaviour in the area.
First a wall was built to separate St Patrick’s Road with Michael Collins Park behind it. Following this the house was built.
The council had intended to sell the house on the private market once it was built. However, a dispute over the ownership of a piece of land to the side of the building meant that they were unable to sell it.
The council attempted to buy the strip of land from the owners but wasn’t able to. In the end they resorted to putting a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) on the land.
The entire saga took close to 10 years in total, with the council finally acquiring the full title to the land in March 2016.
In total, the building of the house and the cost incurred by the CPO brought the total amount spent by the council on the house to €629,000 – €229,000 more than the listed asking price.
Once the council had acquired the land, a number of discussions were held on what should be done with the property.
According to briefing notes from January’s monthly council meeting:
Following these discussions a potential allocation to a family in particular medical need of the type of accommodation the home could meet was identified.
At an informal meeting of Clondalkin Area Committee in November the view appeared to be that the house should be given to a family with a particular medical need rather than be sold.
It went to a full council vote in January, however, with councillors voting 22 to 15 in favour of selling the house on the private market.
“In my opinion it was a disgraceful decision,” Sinn Féin councillor Mark Ward, who voted against the decision, told TheJournal.ie.
Ward – who sits on the Clondalkin Area Committee – said that the house should be used to re-home a family in need, rather than be sold on the private market.
“I just felt it was a bad decision to sell one the council’s few remaining houses because of the housing crisis we’re in,” he said.
A For Sale sign was put up outside the property last Thursday. Once a sale is agreed, Ward said it must be approved again by a council vote.
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