And why public land should be used for public housing On 16 November 2020, at a meeting of Dublin City Council, by a vote of 48 to 14 (1 abstention) councillors voted not to gift the 42 acres of prime council-owned land of the Oscar Traynor Road Development in Coolock to the property developer Glenveagh. […]

Ireland after COVID19: Unite the Union’s ‘Hope or Austerity’ road map
To date 3.6 million people worldwide have been infected by Covid-19, with over a quarter of a million (258,000) dying from the respiratory illness that attacks the lungs and airways. From December 2019 the virus travelled from its original source in southern China to all of Asia, Europe and the rest of the world in […]
The Quiet Collapse of the Parnell Square Cultural Quarter
By Councillor John Lyons, Independent Left A beautiful new library, part of an ambitious new cultural quarter encompassing places for learning, literature, music, innovation and enterprise, inter-culturalism and design, to be located at Parnell Square Dublin 1, was in store for Dublin and Dubliners. The Central Library in the Ilac Shopping Centre has its charm […]
Property Developer Bypasses Clongriffin Residents
By Independent Left Councillor John Lyons So this is the Irish planning system in action: Gannon Homes wants to construct 1,970 residential units in Clongriffin, along with some office and commercial space yet they have lodged three separate planning applications to two different bodies: An Bord Pleanala and Dublin City Council, thus making it a […]
Development Plan for Chivers’ Factory Site, Coolock: Fine Gael backs Greed.
By Councillor John Lyons, Independent Left Interview between Pat Kenny and myself, for Newstalk, 22 October 2019. The Fine Gael pro-developer planning system in action: we on Dublin City Council rezoned the old Chivers’ factory site in Coolock from industrial to residential in October 2017 on the advice of the following assessment from DCC’s planners: […]