Council executive: rents will rise no matter what councillors vote

South Dublin County Council reluctantly caved to legal pressure and will hold a meeting about proposed council rent hikes – but its unelected chief executive has said, even if councillors vote against the increases, rents will rise regardless. 

With the council’s executive refusing to hold a meeting to debate the increases – more than 50 percent raises in the case of some tenants – councillors issued a legal letter threatening High Court action. 

Though chief executive Colm Ward agreed to the meeting he has told councillors that if they pass a motion stopping the increases it “would not be implemented by the executive”.

“It is completely unacceptable that South Dublin County Council management is subverting local democracy to take thousands of euros extra a year in rent from families that cannot afford to pay this,” said People Before Profit councillor Jess Spear. 

Driven by council management

From July South Dublin County Council plans to start reassessing the rents for more than 20,000 homes. 

Social tenants’ base rents will rise by 25 percent under these reviews. “This increase in rents is like a dagger through the heart of working-class communities,” said Sinn Féin’s William Carey.

People Before Profit, Sinn Féin, Social Democrats and independent councillors came together to call for a vote on these increases. 

They said they were being driven through by council management against the wishes of the chamber. These 11 councillors called for a vote on the reassessments but management refused to hold a meeting.   

On 17 June councillor Jess Spear wrote to chief executive Colm Ward, informing him he was obliged to hold the meeting under the terms of the Local Government Act. 

The letter called on the chief executive to confirm the meeting would take place by 19 June, “failing which, we will attend the High Court immediately thereafter to seek leave for judicial review”.

After receiving the letter Ward wrote to councillors. 

“I am advised,” he wrote, “that this is a legally arguable case which the council would have very reasonable grounds for defence but I am reluctant, at this juncture, to engage in the costly, time consuming and avoidable exercise of participating in the High Court proceedings that will divert our financial and staffing resources from where they are best directed in serving the people of the county.”

He agreed to the meeting and it will be held this Thursday. 

Though Ward was forced into holding the meeting he maintained the rent hikes will proceed anyway. 

He referred to “the futility of convening the council and associated administrative resources to consider and debate proposed instructions in the motion that are clearly in conflict with the scope and spirit of the legislation”. 

“In this case, should the motion be passed, it is not actionable for the reasons outlined earlier and therefore would not give effect to any material action or outcome by the executive,” he wrote. 

One of the councillors opposing the hikes is People Before Profit’s Kay Keane. 

“All this has been happening while I’m dealing with council tenants who report that windows are falling out of their homes, they have problems with mould, there’s flooding and lack of proper drainage. And now their rent is about to go up by anywhere between 25 percent and 50 percent for homes in shocking conditions,” she said. 

Both Ward and South Dublin County Council were contacted for comment.