Councillor Mick Murphy opposed a motion to apply for “rejuvenation status” for Tallaght Town Centre at Mondays Tallaght Area Committee meeting and slammed the move as an attempt to distract from the disaster that is Tallaght Town Centre in the run in to Local Elections.
“In July 2006 every other Councillor on SDCC voted to continue the rate of 2,800 apartments to be built every six years in the square mile in the middle of Tallaght. Now over half of the apartments are empty and the Councillors are trying to make it look like they have a plan to do something about it” Cllr Murphy said.
“Apart from the obvious contradiction of applying for something to be “rejuvinated” before it is even built, this status even if granted, which is highly un-likely, will only have a small bearing on the apartments that are occupied and no bearing on the un-occupied apartments” Cllr Murphy said.
“The fact is that many of the un-occupied apartments will become the property of the state via NAMA the National Asset Management Agency and when that happens South Dublin County Council should be in there and take them over” Cllr Murphy said.
“Some of them should be rented out as social housing or sold of for a price much more in the bracket of what people on an average wage can pay. For instance an interest free mortgage of €100 per week over 20 years equates to €104,000. That is around what it cost to build these apartments and is more than enough to pay for them” Cllr Murphy said.
