Dublin City Hall Protest Against Council Rent Hikes Up to 35%
A protest occurred outside Dublin City Hall against council rent increases, approved by a 31-30 vote. Some tenants face up to a 35% hike, the first in 30 years. Critics argue it aligns social housing with market rents, not maintenance, amid poor living conditions and withdrawn regeneration funding.
A crowd gathered outside Dublin City Hall to protest rent increases for council tenants, approved by a narrow 31-30 vote in November by Dublin City Council. This marks the first change in rent calculation in 30 years, potentially raising some tenants' rents by up to 35% based on income and household category.
Sinn Féin, Social Democrats, People Before Profit, and many Independents opposed the increase, while government parties, the Green Party, and Labour supported it. Council officials cited a €55.6 million funding gap for social housing maintenance as the reason for the hike. However, People Before Profit councillor Conor Reddy and Dublin Central byelection candidate Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin argued it aims to align social housing rents with market rates, not maintenance.
Several politicians, including Ó Ceannabháin and Sinn Féin's Janice Boylan, attended the protest. Tenants from Oliver Bond House and Dolphin House expressed outrage over current living conditions, which they described as disgraceful, and vowed not to pay the increased rents. Earlier this week, the Department of Housing withdrew funding for a regeneration project intended to modernize the 1936-built Oliver Bond House flats, which house 1,200 people and suffer from damp and mould.