€8.3m for complex revamp after protests
The Department of the Environment has sanctioned the funding which allows Cork City Council to advertise for builders for the Sunvalley Drive project in Farranree.
The tenders will be advertised within weeks and it is hoped work could be under way by May.
It will take between 12 to 18 months to complete, a council spokesman said.
“We are very happy to see this project move forward,” he said.
Councillor Damian Wallace also welcomed the announcement and said it would improve the area.
“The residents on the complex, and indeed of the northside, have waited a long time for the refurbishment,” Mr Wallace said.
The Sunvalley tenants complained for years of rat infestation, leaking sewerage, illegal dumping and anti-social behaviour.
They were given assurances over two years ago that refurbishment would start soon, but their frustrations boiled over last May when they staged sit-down protests on the main road outside their homes, blocking traffic.
During the protests on May 18 and again on May 26, four women tied rope between four chairs and sat across both carriageways of the road, blocking it.
Gardaí who prosecuted the four for obstructing traffic accepted in court the protestors were probably living in the worst accommodation in Cork.
Judge David Riordan dismissed all charges against Geraldine O’Hara, aged 44, Annette Barnes, aged 50, Martina Martin, aged 26, and Josephine Heaphy, aged 34, on their undertaking not to block the road again.
The major revamp project will see the creation of 11 houses and the refurbishment of 37 units in the Farranree complex.
The complex will be reorientated away from the main road and a new road will be constructed to the rear of the flats.
The council spokesman warned there would be some disruption in the area because of the size of the project.
More than 20 tenants have been relocated to other accommodation. Just a handful remain to be rehoused before the project starts.
