The Green Party has accused Dublin City Council of allowing inner city dereliction and decay, by neglecting land and buildings that are under its control.

Under a request made using the Access to Information on the Environment Regulations, the party’s local election candidate for the North Inner City, Ciaran Cuffe, was told that eight out of the ten inner city derelict sites that he sought ownership details on were owned by the City Council itself.

Ciarán Cuffe stated: "It comes as no surprise that Dublin City Council controls these sites. They have a long history of buying up land for ill-conceived road plans. However, I am surprised that they haven’t come up with proposals for their temporary use. Only one of these sites is being adopted for temporary use - a project on North King Street for a temporary park, but the site has been derelict for over a quarter of a century. Other sites are surrounded by palisade fencing and are attracting rubbish.

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"On one particular Council-owned site at Smithfield there was an empty syringe, and piles of rubbish. This site was designated for redevelopment twenty years ago, and yet it is now one of the worst eyesores on the Square. If they do anything with these sites its creating inappropriate surface car parks. A site fronting onto one of Dublin’s finest Georgian streets - Henrietta Street - is actually being let out by the City Council to National Car Parks for surface car parking. This should not be allowed to happen as the site lies within a designated Architectural Conservation Area.

"Dublin City Council should get its house in order, and if they cannot come up with decent uses for these sites, then they should put them on the market. Many of the sites could provide affordable homes, right in the heart of the city. We could allow people to 'self-build' their own homes. These derelict sites and buildings are damaging the city for residents and visitors alike, and action is long overdue."

(CD/MH)