Where did rent hike funds go? Councillor questions lack of maintenance work

Four months after council rents were raised, Sinn Féin Councillor Ciarán Ó Meachair says tenants around the Liberties are still dealing with damp and mould problems without any proper timeline for resolution

News Stephen Holland Local Democracy Reporter 16:32, 11 Aug 2026 View 2 Images Damage damp roof at Dolphin House

Four months on from Dublin City Council tenants facing rent increases there are questions around “what's happening with the additional funds that have been raised” according to one councillor.

Despite major pushback and protests by affected tenants, the new Differential Rent Scheme was introduced last April. Coming in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, many said they simply couldn’t afford to pay more, especially since tenants in complexes like Oliver Bond House and Dolphin House were already dealing with issues of severe mould and dampness.

It was because of these kinds of long-standing maintenance concerns that DCC said the increase was necessary, as they sought to generate an estimated extra €33 million per year to address the shortfall in their budget. But, Sinn Féin Councillor Ciarán Ó Meachair told Dublin Live the complaints he’s hearing are the “exact same that I would have been getting this time last year”.

“I don't think people have noticed an improvement in maintenance over the past four months. I think a lot of the issues that were there beforehand - poor response times, things dragging out, work taking a long time to get resolved, often no replies - all of those issues are still there,” he said.

Having conducted maintenance surveys at various complexes around his South West Inner City constituency, Cllr Ó Meachair said it’s clear Dublin 8 tenants are frustrated that they haven’t seen much demonstrable improvement since the increases were implemented. “The council said when they increased the rent that it would be going towards improvement maintenance,” he said.

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

“Unfortunately, from the experience we’ve had so far with the survey it doesn’t look like there’s been much of an uptick. Obviously it’s just anecdotal evidence calling round to doors, but it leads to more anger and frustration among people that are paying higher rents now.

“The promise was there that increased money would go towards maintenance. So far, that doesn’t seem to have been the case.”

Dublin City Council officials may very well take issue with this assessment, as councillors were briefed with presentations last April on how they are making changes to how they carry out maintenance works. This includes a pivot from a ‘reactive’ approach to a planned maintenance system .

In presentations delivered to various area committees, Senior Engineer Robert Buckle spoke about the complexities of carrying out repairs on the approximately 27,000 dwellings within the council’s stock. With around 80% of these constructed prior to the introduction of the Building Regulations in 1991, it’s not surprising that their maintenance needs are vast and varied.

This planned maintenance approach means that repair works on the problems outlined by tenants to Cllr Ó Meachair may very well be incoming, but he stresses this does little ease their concerns if it’s not communicated to them. Cllr Ó Meachair described the approach as “haphazard” and said that if there are timelines for planned maintenance works at the various dilapidated complexes around his constituency he hasn’t seen them.

The biggest issues relate to damp, mould, and the deterioration of buildings, but Cllr Ó Meachair said that even basic issues aren’t getting actioned. “In one of the complexes at Islandbridge one of the main complaints is a lack of cleanliness of the stairwells, just the fact they haven’t been power washed in a really, really long time.”

Residents told Cllr Ó Meachair they raised this issue with their local estate officer and it’s been brought to DCC, but it still doesn’t get done. “If they just got a bit of movement on some of the more simple things like that they might get more buy-in from the public,” he said.

While it’s understandable that it might take some time before people can fully see the impact of higher rents on maintenance works, Cllr Ó Meachair stressed that it is currently the best time of the year to ramp up repairs. “Summer is traditionally a good time for getting things done because the weather's nicer,” he said.

“In the depths of winter - if there’s dampness, mould, leakage issues, ventilation problems - it’s a lot tougher for the council to get works done because they are battling against the elements. There might be weather warnings and heavy rain which slows down the progress of addressing maintenance.

“I think it’s frustrating that the rent increase happened and we’ve had a fantastic few months of good weather where maintenance work could have been acted on. It doesn’t really seem to have happened.

“We’re going to head into winter now where they might not be able to act on the issues. We could come again to this time next year where we’re still banging on the door and asking questions about when these things are going to get done.”

A statement from Dublin City Council following the announcement of a new Differential Rent Scheme said: “The additional income will fund improvements to our existing homes and will ensure the City Council can take a more financially sustainable approach to the maintenance of homes. The types of work will include; energy efficiency upgrades; boiler replacements; improvements to our flat complexes and communal areas; replacement of windows, doors and roofs; and adaptations to existing homes.”

This content is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme

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