Controversial charity to learn next month if it can redevelop Dublin senior citizens block

A senior citizens housing charity, whose property on Berkeley Street in Dublin 7 was until recently occupied by housing activists, says it has sought bids for the demolition of the building in anticipation of sanction from Dublin City Council for a new housing scheme.

Cabhrú Housing Association, formerly the Catholic Housing Aid Society (Chas), will next month learn if city councillors will approve the disposal of the council’s interest in McSweeney House to the charity to allow the construction of 35 apartments to go ahead.

However, Cabhrú said it had already issued a tender for the demolition of the building two weeks ago. It intends to start demolition in October and be completed before the end of January. “A separate tender, for the construction of the new building, will be issued in October this year and it is planned that these works will commence in March 2024 and be completed by the end of 2025,” it said.

Gardaí last month removed a number of people who had been occupying the building following a court order secured by Cabhrú. The court heard some of the occupants were asylum seekers who had previously been sleeping in unsafe conditions in tents. The building has now been secured with steel plates against re-entry but the charity is anxious to get development under way.

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Cabhrú in 2019 secured planning permission to demolish the 1980s senior citizen complex of 21 one-bedroom apartments built on council-owned land and replace them with a new building of 35 one-bedroom apartments.

Early the following year, the council’s then head of housing, Brendan Kenny, had been due to ask councillors to approve the transfer of the title of McSweeney House to Cabhrú. However, it came to light in February 2020 that the recently resigned Cabhrú chief executive, Miceal McGovern, had taken a flat in the complex for his own personal use and had allowed a family member to live in another flat, and the council withdrew its support.

Mr Kenny said at the time the council would move to take control of the complex and rebuild it an expected cost of about €10 million.

The unauthorised use of the apartments became the subject of an investigation by the Charities Regulator in 2020. In July 2021, the regulator made a number of negative findings in relation to the use of the charity’s assets and stated the board and former chief executive “did not adequately secure the interests of the charity”.

Cabhrú chairman Liam Meagher subsequently wrote to the council stating the board accepted the findings of the regulator, but urged the council to allow the charity to go ahead with its redevelopment plans, following work to address its “governance shortcomings”, he said.

[ Investigation into Dublin housing charity launched ]

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Councillors representing the area were last month asked to consider the disposal of the council’s interest in McSweeney House to Cabhrú for €4,445. Several councillors raised concerns but agreed not to block the disposal from going to a vote of the full council in September. Local Fine Gael councillor Ray McAdam said he remained opposed to the disposal.

McSweeney House previously came to the attention of the council in late 2018 when it emerged Chas had started renting the Berkeley Street flats to students, after asking elderly residents to move out so the building could be redeveloped. Students were charged €800 a month for the one-bedroom flats, almost 3½ times the social housing rent paid by the elderly residents living in the complex.

Elderly tenants who were rehoused in other Cabhrú properties, and who wished to return to McSweeney House, would be accommodated in the new building when the works were completed, Cabhrú said.