Central Mental Hospital Site
There was an article published in the Independent earlier this year which included the Central Mental Hospital 20+ acre site as one that is to be fast tracked for housing – www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/property-mortgages/state-to-offer-more-than-800-sites-for-at-least-50000-new-homes-35658572.html
It seems Clare Daly T.D. (of Dublin, Fingal constituency) recently raised a question about this in the Dáil. Most likely this question was asked on behalf of the newly formed “Dundrum Housing Action” group – https://www.facebook.com/DundrumHousingAction/, who are campaigning for the construction of social housing on this site.
The question asked by Deputy Clare Daly was:
“To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if the Central Mental Hospital site is one of the circa 800 publicly owned sites that are to be made available for the construction of housing as reported in the media earlier in 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. “
The response from Minister Eoghan Murphy was:
“On 27 April 2017, my Department published the Rebuilding Ireland Housing Land Map, which can be accessed at the following link: .
The map is the result of the collation of data by my Department from local authorities, the Housing Agency, and other State and semi-State bodies. The data sets released to date include details of over 700 local authority and Housing Agency owned sites totalling some 1,700 hectares, as well as 30 sites (200 hectares) owned by State or Semi-State Bodies, the latter in the Greater Dublin Area and other major urban centres, with the potential to deliver homes in the short to medium term.
The site referred to, the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, which still operates as an active hospital, was not included in the initial mapping exercise, as published in April.
As the owner of the site, the Office of Public Works (OPW) has primary responsibility for any future plans for its development. My Department will continue to work with all State bodies, including the OPW, to ensure, where appropriate, housing is delivered from State sites that are available for development.”
Source: https://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2017-09-20a.2004&s=dundrum#g2006.r
This would suggest that the Central Mental Hospital site will not be developed any time soon, but it would be good to get some clarification on this from our own local T.D.s?