Dozens of families have been left homeless, including several who face destitution from Monday, after a fire severely damaged an apartment complex in north Dublin.
Former residents say the billion-euro Comer Group, owner-manager of the Auburn Park complex in Castleknock, has treated them “very poorly” since the blaze, which broke out shortly after midnight on May 21st/22nd.
They say Comer Group, which is valued at a reported €1.09 billion and owns luxury hotels and residences across Ireland, Britain and continental Europe, terminated their leases days after the fire without informing them of their legal right to return after refurbishment on the same rents. This has since been guaranteed to them.
Former residents have been given no commitment as to when they can move back, other than “six to nine months”. They say they were given no assistance in finding alternative accommodation and not referred to Fingal County Council.
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Residents told The Irish Times they got short “slots” to pack up their damaged belongings with threats that whatever they couldn’t remove in that time would be dumped. None was assisted or provided with boxes or storage facilities.
All 45 apartments have been left uninhabitable due to fire, smoke and water damage. Of these, nine were owner-occupied and 36 were let by Comer.
Though the majority of households moved in with friends or family – arrangements most say are unsustainable – a number were provided with empty Comer-owned apartments or hotel-rooms.
They were told last week they had to leave these by June 4th. Following intervention by local TD Emer Currie and the council, the arrangements were extended.
One family, including two children aged four and 17 months, had to leave their hotel room on Friday. They moved in with friends over the weekend. “They will need housing support from the council this week,” said Currie, a Fine Gael TD for Dublin West.
The father, who did not want his family identified, has been told emergency accommodation “could be in Lucan, Celbridge, the city centre”. He works and his four-year old goes to preschool in Castleknock. “This will not work,” he says. They were in Auburn Park for five years.
A widowed father of three children aged four, 12 and 14 has been told Comer will not pay for the hotel room they are in beyond Monday. An Auburn Park tenant for 18 years, he says his young family has “lost everything”.
“We will be homeless on Monday. I’ll have to go to Fingal and see if they can help. I have a housing application with them since 2012. My wife died in 2024. I am horrified at how Comer is treating us. They have no empathy.”
Helga Muir, a tenant for 15 years, says she was given “an hour” to clear her belongings on Thursday. She, her 27-year-old daughter and their dog, are staying in a “box room” in her sister’s friend’s house, almost 40km away in Skerries.
She shows the significant damage to their former home.
The roof over several top-floor apartments is destroyed. The entire building smells of smouldering ash and stairwell carpets are sopping wet as water drips through ceilings.
Muir’s apartment is coated with thick ash and pools of water are everywhere. Friends have helped with boxes, refuse sacks and a trolley.
“Everyone has had to throw out thousands of euros worth of stuff. It’s devastating,” says Muir.
Like some other tenants, she says she was not woken by fire alarms during the fire but by neighbours banging on her door. Several have raised concerns alarms were not working in some parts of the complex.
All who spoke to The Irish Times said once they all got out they tried calling Comer’s emergency helpline for 40 minutes without it being answered. A Comer representative arrived on scene they say some time after 4am. Those with nowhere to go were bussed to a Comer-owned hotel in Tallaght where they stayed together in a function room until later that morning.
Muir, like others, is “angry”. She asked: “There are no protections. We are exhausted, we are going though huge trauma and are just dumped out into homelessness.”
Currie said: “Tenants who experience something like this should not be on their own. Generally Fingal council has been very supportive but I don’t think the property group should be let off the hook.
“Comer are a very large company with access to accommodation. I do not feel they have treated their tenants, in their hour of need, well. They have responsibility to families who are distressed.”
A spokesman for Fingal County Council said: “We can confirm support and advice has been offered to a number of [Auburn Park] tenants who are being dealt with directly, on a case-by-case basis.
“Our dedicated housing support staff will continue to work with other stakeholders to support any residents who contact us, providing specialist housing advice and various supports to those affected during this difficult period.”
Comer Group did not respond to requests for comment.
