Fergus Finlay: The community that showed what a difference it can make in a day

The wait for regeneration for residents at Dolphin House has been decades long, but the 'meantime' solution was sorted in just one day

Tue, 17 Jun, 2025 - 00:38

Fergus Finlay

Fergus Finlay is a former political activist and adviser to three governments, the former head of the children's charity Barnardos, a writer and a broadcaster.

I’d say it might be two years ago when I asked Denis O’Reilly if he’d ever heard of Dolphin House. I know it very well, he only knew it vaguely. And when he came up to visit, he was a bit doubtful. Which is not like Denis.

Dolphin House is a large local authority housing estate, built on the banks of the Grand Canal in the south inner city in Dublin. It’s more than 70 years old and crumbling badly. It’s a mix of some houses and mostly apartments. Up to recently it also featured a group of “bedsits” where older people lived.