Thread:
I grew up in & around 2 largest flat complexes in Dublin Fatima & Dolphin. My nana & mam moved from tenements to Dolphin in the ‘50’s. I lived in a flat in Dolphin for 7 years & left in 2008. I’m not gonna pretend there weren’t myriad problems -namely drugs & crime but https://twitter.com/orla_hegarty/status/1254431474604007424

Those problems weren’t a result of the housing model, they were the result of a deliberate & sustained structural decisions to enforce neglect, deprivation & hardship. At no point though, did those problems EVER outweigh the community spirit in these communities.

My nana lived alone there until her late 90’s & we could head home every evening knowing neighbours in the flats kept an eye on her (& her on them). People accepted human flaws & by & large tried to reduce the suffering caused by those flaws & struggles. Solidarity mostly.

When I was working in CDP I had cause to question the allocations policy employed by DCC. It was evident there was a particular strategy of only allocating flats to a very specific subset of people thus reducing any chance of sustainable thriving communities. This was a decision.

We fought this decision, & others like it, but the fact remains, the housing model was never the problem. The economic & social decisions taken by those in power as to how to treat such housing models, was & is the problem.

I live in a surbuban estate now with nice landscaping & nice people but i have yet to experience anything approaching community spirit, openness, lack of judgement & solidarity of the flats. I still pine for that kind of community & it’s reflected in fact that I volunteer there.

My mam, when she left home, bought one of Guinness apts in Rialto, where I grew up, across from flats. We’d travel back & forth to my Nana in Dolphin twice a day & it’d take you an hour to make the 5 min journey cos of all the yaps. That route was known locally as ‘crack alley’.

I lived in my flat in Dolphin through college & mates from diff areas wouod always ask me ‘was I sure I was ok?’ getting out of taxi on The Barn!
When I graduated, neighbours came out onto the balcony to clap me off in my hat & gown!
Support & pride underpins these communities.