Developer to be asked to pull out of PPP projects

DUBLIN CITY Council is to ask developer Bernard McNamara to withdraw from two public private housing regeneration projects. Solutions may be found to deliver two other troubled projects, however.

Mr McNamara had agreed to build five Dublin housing projects under a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme with the council, but the proposals collapsed last month.

At a meeting at the end of May, assistant city manager Ciarán McNamara said he would consider proposals from Mr McNamara on how to proceed with the plans.

The council is to ask the developer to withdraw from projects at St Michael's Estate and Dominick Street so that it can approach the PPP underbidder for both projects, the assistant city manager Mr McNamara told a meeting of Dublin City Council last night.

No agreements had been signed with the developer on these two projects, but a second bidder could not be approached until the developer withdrew, Mr McNamara said.

There is still hope for the residents of O'Devaney Gardens, which is due to be demolished next month. "There has been some meaningful negotiation" in relation to this project, Mr McNamara said last night. He set a deadline of two weeks (June 20th) for agreement to be reached on issues such as additional costs due to increased apartment sizes.

Bernard McNamara is to go ahead with the planning application for Convent Lands on Seán McDermott Street. Discussions between the council and the developer on Infirmary Road will come to an end as the developer had come back with a proposal that "mirrored" a previous proposal, which the council had rejected.

However the assistant city manager is to set up a unit made up of planners, architects and others to come up with proposals and plans to deliver all of the projects. The Department of the Environment has been approached by the council about alternative methods of funding, Ciaran McNamara said last night.

The projects at Infirmary Road, St Michael's estate, Inchicore, Dominick Street, Seán McDermott Street and O'Devaney Gardens - all in Dublin - were to involve building some 1,800 new homes between them, with a total value of €900 million.

There was mixed reaction from members of the council to the assistant city manager's report.

Some councillors such as Claire Byrne (FG) and Críona Ní Dhálaigh (SF) welcomed the proposal to approach a second bidder. Others including Kevin Humphries (Lab) and Mick Rafferty (Independent) urged Minister for the Environment John Gormley to take a role in the crisis. Mr Rafferty added that this crisis was an obituary for the PPP model's use in regeneration.

About 300 residents from affected areas protested ahead of the meeting at City Hall last night. They banged pots and pans and dressed in black, holding signs such as: "We were promised a youth café and all we got was urban decay".

Members of the St Michael's Estate Regeneration team met council officials yesterday. They said they were angry with the council and called on Mr Gormley to intervene.