Patricia Barber (83) has lived in the same house in Ballymun, Dublin, since 1967.
Barber had no intention of leaving until a planning application appeared in August threatening to raze it to the ground.
She was never informed of the plan to knock down her home of 58 years until a site notice appeared on the green outside detailing a new 463-unit development by Tuath Housing Association, an approved housing body.
“The neighbour knocked on me door and he just said to me: ‘Patty, they’re going to take down your house.’ I was thinking: ‘Feck off with yourself,’ but that’s exactly what it said. I couldn’t believe it,” Barber says.
RM Block
The planning application to Dublin City Council shows the scheme spans over three hectares of land, including the Coultry Road site, where the former Ballymun flats were located before being demolished in 2012.
It comprises 190 one-bed homes, 226 two-beds and 47 three-beds, in 10 blocks up to six storeys high.
The development involves the demolishing of four family homes, 62-65 Coultry Gardens, as well as two community gardens.
A decision on the planning application is due by the middle of October.
Dublin City Council said it would not be commenting on the Ballymun plan.
In response to questions from The Irish Times, Tuath said it “understands concerns in relation to a number of homes affected by this development” and that it would “engage with local residents to ensure that information is clear, concerns are heard and the benefits of the development are understood”.
Barber was born and raised in the city centre neighbourhood of East Wall, before moving to Ballymun on March 10th, 1967, with her husband and three young children.
She describes the move as like “going out to the countryside”.
“It was pure country, there were cows and all,” she says.
“It was great, we had great neighbours. I know when the flats went up, some of the kids were kind of carrying on, but it was no different from anywhere else. They were lovely people. Some of my best friends lived in the flats.
“In this neighbourhood, here in Coultry Gardens, we never had an ounce of trouble.”
She does not want to leave her home, where her daughter and granddaughter live, and where generations of Barbers have passed through.
“If I can’t stay in Coultry Gardens, I’m not moving into another area,” she says.
Her daughter, Nathalie Barber, says the way in which the family found out about the proposed demolition was “deeply upsetting” and “impersonal”.
“This was in the plans for several years, but we were never told. Nobody came to our door to tell us,” she says.
The lack of communication from both the council and the developer “has to change”, she says, noting things could have been “very different” if the residents were consulted earlier.
“Nobody wants a massive-scale development like this [beside them], but there is vacant land, and the majority of people aren’t against building houses – but not more high-rises,” Nathalie says.
[ Ballymun to get biggest social housing development since towers demolitionOpens in new window ]
This point is echoed by several of the residents. Michelle Winter believes residents would not object to a better mix of units, with more two- and three-bed houses.
“After living with concrete buildings for years upon years, I don’t understand why this would be done again out here. Why would you start sticking up all these apartments again, right on top of people?” Winter asks.
Another resident, Stephen Hanlon, also agrees things could have been different if they had been informed of the plans earlier.
“If they’d have met us beforehand and asked what was needed, or what the issues were that we had with these plans, we could have told them, and perhaps some negotiation could have taken place,” Hanlon says.
The most significant loss stated by all the residents is the planned clearing of the two community gardens, Muck and Magic and Glór na nGael.
Martin Maughan, a resident of Coultry Gardens, set up Gardíní Glór na nGael 20 years ago and it now has vegetable patches, mature trees and is home to bats, foxes and birds.
Seven people work at the garden on the community employment scheme, while preschool children from the local naíonra come to explore nature, with pumpkin picking, teddy bear picnics and treasure hunts throughout the year.
“I’m shocked to be honest with you,” Maughan says of the plan to clear the garden, which he describes as “a little haven”.
“The kids come in here when they make their first communion to get photographs taken, we have Halloween parties here. The neighbours don’t have to go across to the shop for their veg, they can come in here,” he says.
Sr Lena Deevy is a long-time resident of Ballymun and says the idea of the garden being cleared “breaks my heart”.
“I look at this place, I think it’s lovely, and I think, what will it be like here when it’s gone?” she says.
“Trees are essential to life. They’re essential to wellbeing. And if we don’t have green spaces, and if we don’t have mature trees, and if we don’t nurture a place like this, there’s no hope for us. We need oxygen. We need life,” she says.
As Maughan’s pumpkins sit ready for harvest, his sunflower blooms hang heavily on their stems, and it is certain the seasons are changing in Coultry Gardens.
This year, however, its residents must wait for the council to decide to what extent.
