Ten antisocial behaviour evictions in Dublin this year

TEN people have been evicted for antisocial behaviour by the country’s largest local authority in the first seven months of this year.

Dublin City Council also revealed that evictions in 2008 linked to antisocial behaviour had already matched last year’s total.

The announcement came as the council steps-up plans to avoid a repeat of the riot which swept through one estate on Wednesday night.

Up to 100 people were reportedly engaged in fighting during a four-hour disturbance at the O’Devaney Gardens estate near the Phoenix Park. A female garda was allegedly beaten.

There were also reports of people brandishing bricks and bottles and even a handgun as youths clashed with up to 60 gardaí. The incident prompted an emergency meeting yesterday of gardaí and council officials.

The number of evictions had dipped considerably since 1999, despite a council spokesperson admitting that the local authority still received the same number of complaints as in years past.

None of the evictions this year involved O’Devaney Gardens residents.

A case taken to the European Court of Human Rights in 2005 by some individuals, who were the subject of eviction notices, has not been completed. It has since resulted in a slowdown in eviction notices.

“The case taken to the EU Court of Human Rights in 2005 is still ongoing and has slowed down the number of warrants for eviction that some judges are handing out,” the council spokesperson said.

As yesterday’s emergency meeting was taking place, the city’s deputy lord mayor, Labour’s Emer Costello, said the collapse of recent regeneration projects had left a “vacuum” in some estates.

“Since the collapse of the regeneration projects, I have been calling for the Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Housing to give a commitment that the Government will provide a rescue package to build the much needed social housing and community infrastructure,” said Ms Costello, who is a member of O’Devaney Gardens regeneration board.

She said residents had reported “flashpoints” in the complex in recent weeks. Significantly many local people had visited the council’s offices seeking alternative accommodation.

CCTV cameras are to be installed but Cllr Costello said the council and gardaí needed to conduct an audit of trouble flashpoints and work with residents to limit antisocial behaviour.

Estates have seen trouble intermittently recently with the O’Devaney gardens incident the most serious.

Another city councillor, Ballyfermot-based Vincent Jackson, said that recently a single mother-of-two had been driven out of another estate after her car was burnt out twice.

Gardaí are investigating the riot while the estate’s management will accept anonymous calls in a bid to identify the perpetrators of the midweek violence.