Council urged to sell off vacant Tallaght site for social housing

By Mary Dennehy

PRESSURE has been placed on South Dublin County Council to investigate the possibility of selling one of its most valuable vacant sites in the county – with the proceeds made from its multi-million euro sale being used to directly deliver social housing. 

Sinn Féin councillor Cathal King has asked the council to explore the positives in selling a site in Tallaght known as Maelruain’s Field, which lies directly across the road from council HQ and close to Tallaght Hospital.

Once home to members of the Travelling community, the site has been vacant for a number of years, with Cllr King believing that, in light of the housing crisis, it is now time to investigate selling the well-positioned and serviced site.

He told The Echo: “This site is one of the most valuable vacant sites in the county and I think with that it’s now time to investigate its sale.

“The proceeds of the sale could be earmarked for the building of social houses on other, more appropriate council-owned land – or the money could be used to buy suitable land for the development of houses.

“We have to think of new and additional ways to provide homes, and I think selling this land, rather than developing it ourselves, would give the council more bang for its buck – we could build more social homes elsewhere with the money, build a standard, integrated estate.”

He added: “I’m sure there would be investors out there interested in developing a mixed-use development on this site or maybe a large retail store or outlet.

“The site is not constrained by heights and has the population, public transport links and services to support development.
“I’m not sure what the council plans on doing with it, but we have to at least consider the sale of the site and test the market.”
In a reply to Cllr King, council management said: “The council owned site north of County Hall is a strategic site in both financial value and the future development of Tallaght Town Centre.

“Accordingly, the timing and method of releasing it to the market will require careful consideration and is under constant review as the development market recovers and activity increases.

“Some form of joint venture arrangement may be the best option for the site.”

The council added that the sale proceeds from property disposals go into the local authority’s overall capital programme budget, and that 50 per cent of money made from the eventual sale of the site will be due to Dublin City Council – under an agreement made following the establishment of South Dublin County Council in 1994.

Believing that the council could earmark the money made from a sale for social housing, Cllr King expressed his confusion over the 50 per cent payment to Dublin City Council.

“We are in a crisis here and we need to find ways to deliver homes for those on the housing and homeless lists”, Cllr King said.

“Also, it does not make sense that we have to pay Dublin City Council half of the sale proceeds. If that’s the case every council house or bit of land we would sell we’d have to pay DCC 50 per cent, and I’ve never come across that.

“If we do have to pay another local authority money from the sale of an asset in our area then I’m calling for a review of that agreement.”

When asked by The Echo about the agreement, the council said that Dublin Corporation owned a significant housing stock and land bank in South Dublin County up until 1994 and that an agreement was reached on the transfer of these properties to South Dublin County Council.

As part of the transfer, it was agreed that certain large land holdings adajent to the Tallaght Town Centre and at Clondalkin would be subject to a 50/50 arrangement between the council and the then Dublin Corporation.

Despite contacting a local auctioneer, a value on the site is unknown at this early stage.