Tag Archives: Dublin 7

Twang!

This morning.

Via Dublin City Council:

We are delighted to announce a new, free, folk and traditional music event in Dublin City Centre.

The first ‘Smithfield Fleadh‘ will take place this year on the 18th and 19th of June between 12pm – 6pm each day at Smithfield Square.

Smithfield Square is Dublin city centre’s largest dedicated event space, and this year’s Fleadh is the first of its kind to take place in the location.

The two-day event promises a programme of live music from a range of talented musicians across the Irish folk and traditional music scene, as well as workshops for all the family to enjoy. The programme and more event information will be released over the coming weeks.

Dublin City Council Launches Music festival For Smithfield Square (Dublin People)

 

Yesterday.

Halliday Square, Stoneybatter, Dublin 7.

An afternoon of bingo, music and entertainment in aid of Temple Street Hospital organised by local residents.

Meanwhile…

In fairness.

Pics via Stoneybatter Stay At Home

Thud.

Meanwhile, last Thursday, the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill was passed, ensuring, among other things, that landlords could not evict tenants or increase rents over the three-month Covid-19 emergency period.

Anyone?

Via Neasa Hourigan

UPDATE:

Yesterday.

Maria, in Dublin, tweeted:

Since last month, two of my housemates lost their job. They don’t have any savings. They both used to work in a hotel so there’s no way they’re going to get their jobs back anytime soon, not even after the lockdown is over. Naturally, they are unable to afford rent at the moment.

Given the situation, we asked our landlord to meet us halfway. We asked to pay half the rent as long as the emergency lasts. We didn’t ask to live in the house for free. We didn’t refuse to pay rent (though, I believe, this would be a legitimate action).

We simply told the truth: there is no money for him to take. He replied at first saying we all have responsibilities, i.e., he sees giving him money as our moral duty, and said we needed to discuss this.

We had a Skype call a few days after, in which he tried extremely hard to portray himself as a victim, said the mortgage is only temporarily frozen so he’ll need the money for it in the future, said he needs to send money to his daughter in Australia, said he’s also out of job. Ok.

This man rents three houses he inherited in Dublin, one house in Spain, one in Portugal (that we know of). He’s getting some more than €3,000 a month, tax-free, from our house alone, in which he’s trying to push in a fifth housemate to get even more.

He said each of us should “sort out our finances” and give him this month as MUCH AS WE COULD, and will we owe him the rest once this is over. My housemate has ZERO at the moment. She’s never going to get back the money she lost since her job shut down.

He thinks that in three months she will have €2,250 just for him. I don’t know if greediness makes these people delusional, I don’t know how this reasoning makes sense in their dried-up brains.

She had to explain again to him that she simply doesn’t know when and if she’ll ever have that money, at which point he lost it and shouted that she already owed him money from last month’s rent. Knowing all of us were there with her.

I said he should just keep our deposits … this month, being that is our money that he’s keeping for emergencies, to which he just replied ‘no’ and didn’t even want to discuss about it. He said we should know by now eviction is not something he does, which, coming from him, is already a threat in itself.

At this point, I don’t know how to go on. I’m sick of having to think and talk about money. I’m sick of having to explain why this greediness is irrational, impracticable, and destroying people’s lives. I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere but in Dublin.

This afternoon, Maria tweeted an update about her situation…

Previously: One Flu Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

O’Devaney Gardens site in Dublin 7

This afternoon

In the Dublin Inquirer

Laoise Neylon reports:

A council report said the value of the land at O’Devaney Gardens in 2017 was €15 million to €20 million.

A council spokesperson said last Monday that that figure remains the same today. “The indicative land value range (€15M to €20M) as outlined in the O’Devaney Gardens Feasibility Study has not changed,” they said.

Other vacant sites in the wider area have significantly higher values.

In Fairview, a similar distance from the city centre, a site with scope for 32 apartments was for sale in May for €3 million.That valuation suggests a site value of €94,000 per apartment.

Back in 2018, a site in Cabra was valued at €32 million, which suggests a site value per apartment of €76,000. That was over a year ago and land values have gone up since.

What if the site value on the O’Devaney Gardens land was midway between these, say €85,000 per apartment?

Barta is building 411 homes for private sale, so an approximate commercial value for half of the land being transferred to Bartra would in that case be in the region of €35 million.

…Architect and housing expert Mel Reynolds said he was chatting to a developer recently and he put a challenge to him.

“I said to him – ‘Do you think if we sat down together, we would we be able to figure out a way to make a 12 acre site, worth €65m, disappear?” said Reynolds.

“Dublin City Council have managed to do just that,” he says. “The unbelievable thing is that they start off with an asset but then they just give it away for free.”

A Closer Look at the Costs of the O’Devaney Gardens Deal (Laoise Neylon, Dublin Inquirer)

Previously: “There Is Something Seriously Wrong Here”

Emmet Kelly tweetz:

“*Stolen Car. I’ve had nothing back from the gardai so I’m giving this a shot. On September 12th, between 6 & 9pm my car was stolen at Stable Lane, Brunswick Street North in Stoneybatter [Dublin 7].

“It’s a Toyota Rav 4 01MH1936 – if you know or have spotted the car anywhere please contact me.”

Anyone?

The Horseboy mural on Stirrup Lane in Dublin 7

‘sup?

A petition has been set up by artist collective Subset to save the ‘Horseboy’ mural on Stirrup Lane, off Church Street, in Dublin 7, from being removed by Dublin City Council.

They write:

An Bord Pleanála is set to rule on the case of a well-known mural in the Smithfield area after Dublin City Council found that it needs planning permission to remain in place.

The Horseboy mural is located just off Church Street in Dublin 7 and a warning letter had previously been issued in respect of it by the council.

The tenant at the house which has the mural on the side of it made an application to the council in June that the painting should be considered “exempted development” and allowed to remain.

A previous arrangement between the council and the tenant had designated it as an “exempted development”

….The conditions attached to that agreement outlined it would only apply for a period of 12 months, ending 1 April 2018, and that the applicant would have to commit to removing the artwork at the end of that permission.

A submission was then made by the owner – as opposed to the tenant – of the property in favour of the mural….

…Dublin City Council, however, found that the mural does require planning permission, and therefore it cannot be considered exempt under existing laws.

The need for planning permission for murals has been a thorn in the side of efforts to develop street art in Dublin in recent years.

Sign petition here

Previously: A Thinking Cap