Permission given for Kinsealy homes despite opposition
The council gave permission after concluding the scheme 'would provide a high quality new residential area and would be an excellent example of plan-led development'.
The 49 page council planner's report development also found the scheme 'thoroughly conforms to the planning framework provided for the area'.
The council concluded that the scheme 'provides a satisfactory standard for residential amenity, would be acceptable in terms of urban design and quantum of development'.
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The LDA lodged the plans in February after Teagasc agreed to transfer the lands to the LDA for the development of affordable housing in accordance with its mandate to accelerate the delivery of affordable new homes throughout Ireland.
The scheme comprises 193 residential dwellings including 153 houses and 40 duplex units arranged in three storey blocks on a site south of Kinsealy village centre and 4km south-eastsoutheast.
The scheme also provides for 229 car parking spaces, 345 bicycle spaces and four acres of public open space while in addition, 5.4 acres of greenbelt zoned lands are included to the south and southeast of the residential development area to accommodate a playing pitch.
In response to the scheme, on behalf of the Kinsealy and Chapel Road Community Organisation, Sean Crawford told the council that 'building more houses is not just the answer - it'– about creating sustainable communities that can truly thrive'.
He said that building the scheme without a comprehensive vision 'will ultimately increase strain on current residents and diminish quality of life throughout the growing communities of Fingal'.
Mr Crawford stated that the proposed three-storey duplexes fundamentally violate the area's rural character and objectives of the Fingal Development Plan which explicitly safeguard rural aesthetics and require appropriate density and scale.
In his objection, David Bent from Gandon Lane, Kinsealy contended: 'While I appreciate the need for new housing and development in our area, I have serious concerns regarding the lack of supporting infrastructure, which would significantly impact the safety and wellbeing of current and future residents.'
He said: 'The local schools are already operating at or near full capacity. This development would place additional pressure on these institutions, limiting access to quality education for families moving into the area.'
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Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
‘The stress is inhumane': Second Dublin council pauses scheme to buy homes of tenants at risk of homelessness
The number of families at risk of homelessness due to the lack of funding for the tenant-in-situ scheme has risen to more than 160, after a second local authority in Dublin paused applications. The scheme allows local authorities to buy properties that host tenants facing eviction because the landlord is selling. It applies to tenants who have received a notice of termination, are deemed at risk of homelessness and who qualify for social housing support such as the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) or the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS). New restrictions were applied to the scheme this year, including a stipulation that the home must be in the HAP or RAS system for at least two years. READ MORE There have also been lengthy delays in the issuing of Government funding to the scheme, as Minister for Housing James Browne conducted a review of its terms. In June, Dublin City Council confirmed it had paused all new applications to the scheme as its 2025 budget had already been allocated. The council had 104 applications to the scheme by March. Fingal County Council has now confirmed it is in the same position and will not be proceeding with any more purchases under the scheme. In a letter sent to Sinn Féin TD for Fingal West Louise O'Reilly, the local authority said its budget for 2025 'has been exhausted' after it made 32 acquisitions under tenant in situ, with one remaining sale going through the conveyancing process. This compares to 121 tenant-in-situ acquisitions made in 2024. 'There were 60 tenant-in-situ applications that were paused at the beginning of the year and did not proceed due to limited funding,' the council said. [ More than 100 families in Dublin at risk of homelessness as tenant-in-situ applications paused Opens in new window ] One of those applications was by a woman and her young child who are living in rental accommodation in Balbriggan. Ms O'Reilly said the woman's child was due to start school in the area in September but now they are at risk of homelessness. The woman received a notice to quit in August 2024 and applied for the tenant-in-situ scheme in March. Ms O'Reilly said the woman understood she was accepted for the scheme until she learned last month about the council pausing applications. 'The stress she is under is inhumane. She has also lost valuable time that she could have been searching for somewhere to live while believing that the tenant-in-situ purchase was ongoing,' Ms O'Reilly said of her constituent. 'The Government has now literally removed the only homeless prevention measure that my constituents had. It is beyond heartbreaking to see the human impact of this decision on families and especially on children,' she said.
Irish Times
4 hours ago
- Irish Times
Does it make sense to hold onto my husband's bank shares and his stockbroker account?
I know that you have done your best to try to explain the misery that befell many of us when the banks were taken over by the Government. But some of us are remedial and still don't quite understand where we now stand. My late husband worked in AIB and had his life's savings in AIB shares. (For safety he diversified into equally 'safe' BOI shares!). I recall that, before the crash, his AIB shares were worth about €450,000. They were held with Goodbody's . I don't know why. My December 2024 statement states that, as of now, I have close to €25,000 invested roughly evenly across the two big banks. READ MORE Last month, I paid an annual charge of €701,61 to Goodbody's (Cumulative Effect of Costs and Charges on Returns), of which €501,61 was in non-Goodbody charges My questions are as follows: Should I close this account with Goodbodys since I have never done – and don't plan to do – any trading. Is there any point in hanging on to these shares in the hope that, when the banks are making millions again, they might feel sorry for those of us who lost everything and offer some kind of compensation? In fairness, AIB continues to pay my widow's pension. Ms J.R. The first rule in making sense of investments is understanding what you are paying for the opportunity of gain. Charges can fundamentally affect your return so it is important to get a proper fix on them. I get the sense you're not too sure why you are paying the amount you are paying Goodbody's to manage this portfolio of shares and cash. I've spoken to Goodbodys who, no more than their rivals, can be difficult o tie down on the question of fees. To their credit, they have suggested you contact them directly so that they can walk you through exactly what the charges are and for what service. As usual, I have not given any of your identifying details to them as I did not have your explicit permission to do so but they tell me they have offered an experienced person on standby to deal with you directly on this matter. I'll pass those details on to you. Charges aside, there are a couple of big issues here. First, should you hold on to the shares and second, should you continue to hold an account with Goodbody's or any other broker? Let's take those in reverse order. You have kind of answered the second question with your assertion that since your husband died and you inherited these shares, you have never done – and do not plan to do – any trading. There is no obligation to hold your shares through a broker although you will need to engage a broker should you ever decide to sell them. These days, shares are 'dematerialised'. This means that any paper share certificates you hold – which used to be the legal proof of ownership – are now worthless. Instead, details of your shareholdings are held in electronic form by the 'registrar', the company that manages the list of shareholders for each of these banks. In this case, a company called Computershare is share registrar for both banks. You can keep track of your shares and any dealings in them by registering with Computershare here for access to their online investor centre. You'll need very basic details – your unique shareholder reference number for each shareholding – which you should be able to find on communications from the companies, or from Goodbody. The key thing here is that you do not need to hold your shares through a stockbroker and, if you are not trading in shares, it makes little sense to be paying annual charges for the privilege – never mind over €700. Based on the current value of your account, as outlined in your query, the Goodbody's annual charge amounts to over 2.75 per cent, which certainly strikes me as very high, especially for an account with no activity. I cannot think of an explanation Goodbody's could provide that would make this a sensible proposition for you. Unless you plan to sell the shares now given you already appear to be paying Goodbody for the service, I would pull the plug on the Goodbody account and keep track of the shares through the Computershare Investor Centre. If you do want to sell later, you can always 'shop the market' to see who will sell them for you at the lowest charge. That brings us to the other issue – should you hold on to these shares at all? As an AIB lifer, it is not entirely surprising – if not exactly sensible – that he invested heavily n the bank's shares. Back then, he may have been able to do so at preferential rates or through some employee share programme. He was correct that it made sense to diversify given the concentration of his investment. I have no idea if he took advice at that time but the notion of diversifying from having all your investments in one bank stock by investing in the State other large listed back was mad even back then. All his eggs were still in the banking basket and we all know what happened there. People like your husband saw their savings effectively go up in smoke. In AIB's case, quite apart from the bank bailout that saw the value of his shareholding crash, he also went through the one for 250 share consolidation in 2015 that knocked a further 75 per cent of the value of his savings. In the case of Bank of Ireland, in 2017, it gave shareholder one new share for every 30 previously held but, of course, it too saw the value of existing investors' shareholdings decimated by the post-crash bailout. Given the number of shares your husband, and now you, hold in both banks, it is clear his investment in both was significant. You do not say when you inherited these shares which is a key point. Any investment gains (or in his case losses) die with a shareholder. So when you inherited the shares, their base value will be whatever they were worth at that time. The losses your husband suffered are, unfortunately, irrelevant. Assuming you inherited some time since late 2010, you are actually in profit on both those shares right now – albeit a long way of recovering the sort of level they traded at when your husband had them before the crash. So if you do sell, and assuming your gain is more than €1,270, as I assume it will be, you will be paying capital gains tax at 33 per cent on those 'profits'. I'm not a share analyst, nor a qualified financial adviser, so I cannot say what you might expect these shares to do in the future, though it is fair to say that most analysts see some upside for both as the State has now exited their bailout investment despite cuts in European Central Bank interest rates that have padded their profits in recent years. The bigger question is whether you are comfortable with stock market investments in individual shares. Even if you are, it would be advisable to consider proper diversification – something you might discuss with Goodbody when you meet them and before you make any decision to close that account. Whatever you do, I would certainly not bank of either lender offering any compensation to the shareholders it gutted during the crash, now that they are back to earning millions of euro. They may say how sorry they are for what happened – and have done – but they're not that sorry. And, to be fair to them, that is the nature of stock market investment. It carries risk – hence the good sense in diversification – and when things go wrong, shareholders will find themselves at the bottom of the pecking order when it comes to people being taken care of. That is the reality of shareholder investment. Investing in Ireland's banks used to be considered almost as good as investing in government bonds, with dividend income as icing on the cake. The crash reminded us not to take such things for granted. And much and all as investors must take responsibility for their own risk, I would not be giving AIB any credit for paying your widow's pension. That is part of the Ts & Cs of your husband's occupational pension scheme - not some munificence on the part of the bank. Please send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2, or by email to , with a contact phone number. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice
Irish Times
7 hours ago
- Irish Times
‘Things have gone noticeably downhill': a Dubliner on 30 years living in Germany
Stephen Hurley has been immersed in the German language since the age of five, when he attended St Kilian's German school in south Dublin. He thanks his polyglot father, who finished his academic career as professor of organisational psychology at DCU, for the decision to expose his children to European languages as early as possible. It was to pay off handsomely when Stephen moved to Germany in 1996 to work for the Irish Dairy Board – now rebranded as Ornua . Along the way, Hurley took a bachelor's degree in science at UCD, followed by a master's in food science. He developed a keen interest in marketing rather than science at this time, leading to his first role as a sales rep for Green Isle Foods, when it launched its Goodfellas range of pizzas in the UK market. 'It was a great experience, and exciting, as we were all new to our roles,' he says. 'I had a huge territory in the English midlands. The launch was a big success and within a year we were brand leaders.' READ MORE When a position in Europe at the Irish Dairy became available, Hurley applied. The role was for the Benelux region but during the recruitment process he was introduced to the company's German division because of his fluency in the language and ended up being posted there. Almost 30 years on, he's still there and is now marketing manager for the Kerrygold brand. 'Some would say I am now fully assimilated,' he quips. 'I manage the Kerrygold brand in Germany in terms of positioning, media, packaging, PR, online presence – everything around how the brand is presented to the market.' The operation he joined in 1996 was a team of three but Ornua's headcount in Germany is now more than 300. Germany makes a significant contribution to the company's global turnover of about €3.5 billion a year. Kerrygold was launched in Germany 1973 and is the brand leader in its category. Brand recognition is very high and it is held in high regard as a premium brand, says Hurley. 'If you ask people what Kerrygold is, they will say it is the good butter. It delivers on its promise in that it tastes good and is very spreadable. It's not just a brand.' Butter and dairy spreads remain the main drivers of volume, but cheese is now a significant part of the brand portfolio too. The train service has developed a poor level of punctuality Kerrygold launched at a very advantageous time when the Greens were very strong in Germany, and its brand story of cows reared outside and eating grass, with a very high level of care for the animals, resonated strongly, he says. 'About two in three people in Germany could be described as flexitarians in that they eat less animal products, but better ones. Consumers care what they eat, and they are concerned about the environment, and about how animals are kept and what animals are fed. 'The way of farming in Ireland is very different from the way it is in Germany. Issues of sustainability may have slid away from attention lately because of concerns about wars and global instability, but they remain important factors in people's minds here.' A keen hockey player when he was younger, Hurley joined a club as a way of meeting people when he moved to Germany, through which he met his wife, Sabine. The couple have recently become grandparents. Home is in the city of Krefeld, in north Rhine-Westphalia, northwest of Düsseldorf, a short commute to Ornua's German headquarters. When he moved to Germany, Hurley was impressed with the infrastructure and apparent efficiency compared with Ireland at the time, but the years since have altered this perspective. Long years of austerity policies and underinvestment have seen infrastructure standards decline alongside a decline in education. Ireland is now more advanced than Germany in many ways, he says. 'Germany now has a very poor telephone infrastructure. Most of the bridges crossing the Rhine here are in a state of disrepair. The train service has developed a poor level of punctuality, bureaucracy has exploded and everything is incredibly slow. Things have gone noticeably downhill.' The construction industry is experiencing problems, with employers finding it hard to fill apprenticeship roles, and this is affecting competitiveness. 'Because they have limited numbers of skilled workers and concerns about continuity, builders, plumbers and electricians have got picky and choosy about the work they want to do and prices gone up consequently,' he says. People won't greet each other and will avoid eye contact Germans are inclined to paint things black and look back to better days, but the reality is that things are not that bad. Living standards are very high for most people, and the economy is large and robust, he says. The hope is that the recently installed government will deliver on its ambitious investment promises and improve infrastructure. Hurley says that in his home city, he lives entirely 'within the German cosmos', although he has some Irish friends in Düsseldorf. 'It's very important to speak the language if you want to really become part of German society and to be understood and understand others. I am fluent – which is a great advantage.' Germans have become less formal in recent years, he says, but are still reserved. 'People won't greet each other and will avoid eye contact. In Ireland you can strike up a conversation with a stranger in a bar. That doesn't happen often here.' Contrary to what many people think, however, the Germans do have a sense of humour, he says. 'You can't slag people off here and assume that they will find that funny, but they do have a black sense of humour. Germans famously love punctuality, but the reality is sometimes different. The trains don't always run on time these days, so there's many jokes made about that.'
