Regeneration of Ballymun delayed due to cut in funds

COMPLETION OF the project to regenerate Ballymun in north Dublin is to be delayed for at least two years because of a drastic cut in Government funding.

The delay leaves more than 500 people still living in the old Ballymun tower blocks uncertain as to when they will move into new housing.

Ballymun Regeneration Ltd (BRL) has had its funding cut to €45 million for 2009 from €80 million last year.

BRL started 2009 carrying a deficit of €31 million and is already tied into legal contracts with developers totalling €53 million, giving it a capital requirement of €84 million just to fulfil its current obligations.

The result is that there is no longer a completion date for the regeneration. The project had been scheduled to end in 2012, but will not now be completed until 2014 at the earliest if there is a restoration of funding next year, said BRL managing director Ciarán Murray.

The final phase of housing construction throughout the five communities of Ballymun – Shangan, Poppintree, Coultry, Balcurris and Sillogue – was due to start this year. These homes would have accommodated those remaining in the old 1960s tower blocks.

“For those people it means there is likely to be some wait, an extended wait. We were working to a completion date of 2012; that would now be extended to at least 2014 and that’s deeply dependent on the whole exchequer situation improving. Hopefully we’ve hit or are very close to the bottom now,” Mr Murray said.

BRL has already committed to paying developers €53 million on projects which are already under way and must be completed.

“We fully intend to meet that contractual commitment. These are mutli-annual contracts, and while they may not get fully completed this year, we have to maintain an ongoing level of activity.”

Mr Murray said BRL was negotiating for reductions in costs. However in many cases materials have already been bought and BRL had a legal obligation to reimburse the builders. Now would be the ideal time to get value for money on new contracts but BRL does not have the funding to commit to any new spending.

“Obviously we’re saying to all our contractors that we want everybody to sharpen their pencils and come back with better proposals. The greatest savings could be achieved now on new tenders, but unfortunately it’s coming at a time when we don’t have money.”

BRL’s initial funding allocation for 2008 had been €65 million and was increased during the year to €80 million.

Local Labour councillor Andrew Montague said the cut in funding would bring the regeneration to a halt.

“The €45 million is just enough to keep the project in existence but that’s all, it won’t make any progress.”

He said those still living in the flats encountered intimidation from gangs of youths who hung around the stairwells, and were living in what was increasingly degrading accommodation.

“The families still living in the flats are the ones being hurt by this cut. We must do everything we can to get these families into their new homes as quickly as possible.

“Gardaí have said that there’s been a dramatic drop in crime from the old high-rise blocks to the new housing.”

Mr Montague said cutting funding now would be extremely short-sighted when the project was so close to completion.

He said now was the right time to invest in our communities: we would never get better value for money as tender prices have dropped dramatically, we could create hundreds of badly-needed jobs and we could move families out of the flats into high-quality new homes.