Government 'U-turn' on Oliver Bond flats showcases power of community outrage

While community-led backlash successfully saved regeneration plans for the Oliver Bond flats, local Sinn Féin Councillor Ciaran Ó Meachair warns that the fight for a holistic, long-term vision for the complex's 16 blocks is far from over

News Stephen Holland Local Democracy Reporter 12:33, 12 Aug 2026 View 2 Images Oliver Bond flats in Dublin 8 (Image: Stephen Holland)

It was community backlash that led to the Government’s “U-turn” on the Oliver Bond flats according to one councillor.

Tenants in Dublin 8 were devastated last May when it was announced the Department of Housing was scrapping long-promised plans for the regeneration of Oliver Bond House. This saw widespread outrage from residents and representatives and the backlash was widely covered in the media, leading to talks between Minister for Housing James Browne and stakeholders with a commitment to additional funding and to redraft Phase 1 of the plan.

Revised plans have been drawn up, but Sinn Féin Councillor Ciaran Ó Meachair said the result “wasn't dramatically different” from what Dublin City Council had proposed. While he believes the result is “definitely worse” than what they originally wanted, he said the way the community pushed back against the Government demonstrates the power that tenants have to enact change.

“I think the Department genuinely got a shock with the amount of outrage that came from Oliver Bond, but also from the wider community around Dublin. People in other flat complexes were saying, ‘No, this is not acceptable’,” he said.

“The sheer backlash from the public made the Department rethink their approach to the whole thing. Oliver Bond is one of the largest flat complexes in Dublin and the feeling out there is that if the Department can ride roughshod over Oliver Bond then they could do that to any complex. They could do it with smaller complexes much easier.”

View 2 Images Sinn Féin Councillor Ciarán Ó Meachair at the Oliver Bond flats (Image: Stephen Holland)

The rationale behind rejecting the original plan was that it didn’t constitute good “value for money” according to the Department of Housing. They said at the time DCC’s proposal would have seen a “significant reduction of homes” going from 74 down to 46 for the three blocks proposed. If the plan moved forward as planned they said that it would leave “28 households without a home”.

Following “very extensive” engagement, Chair of the Oliver Bond Regeneration Forum Frank Clarke said last June that there had been “major development” and that revised plans had been drawn up. In July, it was revealed that a “compromise” had been agreed upon that would blend the DCC plan with input from the Department.

DCC had sought to convert 74 existing flats into 46 units and the Department had proposed converting them into 68 one-bedroom studio flats. Now, two of the three blocks in Phase 1 are moving forward the way DCC intended, and the third is progressing in line with the Department’s plan, ultimately resulting in 54 regenerated homes.

There will be 12 studio apartments, 26 one-bedroom units, 12 two-bedroom units and four three-beds spread across blocks L, M and N. Cllr Ó Meachair had previously called out the potential adverse effects of so many one-bedroom homes concentrated in the same area, as individual units prevent fostering a sense of community and can often lead to increased anti-social behaviour.

“Crucially, whatever regeneration is delivered for Oliver Bond, it has to be a holistic mix of bedroom sizes. It cannot be a complex of one-bed flats and bed-sits. It has to be a mix so that you can have single people, but also families there,” he said.

“You’re trying to foster a community. The Gardaí will say from their point of view that when they’re trying to engage with the community it’s far easier for them to do that when they’re engaged with families. One-person households might be transient, they might not necessarily be there for a long time.”

Another key point of concern that Cllr Ó Meachair said often gets lost in the conversation around Oliver Bond is the importance of including the 43 home-scheme on the adjacent Bridgefoot Street. This development has been linked to Oliver Bond’s regeneration and can only go ahead as part of the broader plan.

Cllr Ó Meachair said some reports include Bridgefoot Street but other times it is excluded - although the Department has said this development will proceed as part of the overall plan. “It’s happened with Oliver Bond before, they were promised Bonham Court on the other side at on Bonham Street. They were told that’s going to be part of the wider project,” he said.

“What's happened is Bonham Court got built, people are living in them now and yet Oliver Bond is still where it is at. The main thing is to make sure Phase 1 progresses, but we need to be insisting there is a broader picture now delivered by DCC and the Department in conjunction with the views of the Renegeration Forum and residents taken into account.”

Cllr Ó Meachair is calling for officials to put forward a broader, clear idea for “the bigger picture” of what the rest of the regeneration will look like. Citing the regeneration of Dolphin House as an example, this Liberties complex saw Phase 1a of its regeneration delivered in 2018 and being continually stalled ever since.

“That’s led to this kind of uncertainty and frustration on the ground there. So, I think the Department and DCC really need to make sure that there's a broader picture of how the rest of the Oliver Bond regeneration is going to look for all of the residents, and not just three of the blocks.”

The remainder of the complex's 16 blocks are not without their own problems . Built in 1936, they are some one of Dublin city’s oldest council homes and have suffered from damp, mould, and overcrowding problems for decades.

Prior to the original plan falling apart, the regeneration of Oliver Bond was supposed to commence in 2028 and it’s unclear if this pause and redrafting has delayed that timeline. “I think there's definitely a lot more battles to be had on Oliver Bond. But, we’ll see where we go next,” Cllr Ó Meachair said.

This content is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme

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