Protected cottages could become used as family homes

THE decision to list the vacant cottages on the Old Bawn Road in Tallaght as an Architectural Conservation Area (ACA) has been welcomed by a local councillor, who ultimately hopes they will go back into use as family homes.

The cottages have been lying idle for several years, with the grass becoming overgrown and the windows being boarded up in the intervening years.

Known locally as Goose Park and TJ Burns Cottages, the cottages were developed for workers in Dublin Corporation but are now privately owned.

For Fianna Fáil councillor Teresa Costello, seeing the properties fall into disrepair has been a source of frustration, but the fact that they are now ACAs offers her a degree of reassurance.

“At the last meeting of the County Development Plan they decided to include them as ACAs,” Cllr Costello, who has raised the issue at council-level numerous times over the years, told The Echo.

“It’s an acknowledgement that they’re going to be protected, and I want them to be protected because they’re so old and they’re a part of Tallaght.

“There’s only a certain number of TJ Burns cottages, because they were for local authority workers.

“If they were anywhere else, they’d be preserved. The residents in Maelruan’s have had to put up with them just being left there.

“But I just want to highlight the importance of the cottages, and the fact they’re ACAs now gives them an added layer of protection.”

Last year, South Dublin County Council said they would take action under the Derelict Sites Act as the registered owners of the cottages did not respond to correspondence from the council.

The Echo contacted South Dublin County Council to ask if the properties have been taken in charge by them under the Derelict Sites Act.

A spokesperson for the local authority confirmed that the cottages have not been entered into their Register of Derelict Sites.

The spokesperson added: “The council is not aware of any reports that the properties at Goose Park may potentially be derelict and therefore they have not been investigated  previously under the provisions of the Derelict Sites Act. The property at TJ Burns Cottages recently changed ownership and the council will engage with the new owner with a view to taking  appropriate action under the provisions of the Derelict Sites Act.”

As for the future of the properties, Cllr Costello said she hopes they can go back into use as family homes and, as a result, will no longer be magnets for anti-social behaviour.

“I’d love to see people living in them and for them to just be brought back into use,” she said.

“I don’t want to see them graffitied or people drinking in them and causing worry to neighbours in Maelruan’s Park.

“They’re in a prime location in Tallaght, and for them to be brought back to their former glory . . . they’d be a huge addition en route to the village.”