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Cherry Orchard
Car crashed through fence at Dublin modular housing site, then set alight
Construction on the rapid-build homes at the site is due to begin next week.
A FUTURE MODULAR housing site in west Dublin was the subject of significant anti-social behaviour over the weekend.
The site’s steel fence, at Cherry Orchard near Ballyfermot, was destroyed by a car on Friday evening. The car was subsequently set on fire.
When officials from Dublin City Council went to remove the burnt-out car on Saturday they were set upon by youths flinging rocks and other debris.
The situation was repeated yesterday. This morning, the council finally managed to remove the car from the site.
Pre-building preparation work for the modular housing, including sewage lines, had already been completed.
Construction on the homes was due to begin next week for a completion date of December
24 families are expected to be housed at the site when construction is completed.
“The damage done to the building site in Cherry Orchard is unacceptable and should not have happened,” said local councillor Daithí Doolan of Sinn Féin, adding that the site had been “the bane of local people’s lives” in recent years before being made available for a modular housing build.
It puts local people, particularly children, at risk. Those involved should stop for a minute and just think about the damage they are doing to Cherry Orchard.
Doolan said that the site in question had been designated for a social housing project prior to the recession, but that when the economy was hit the housing project “never happened”.
“What I can say is that the site needs security and now to prevent this from happening again,” he added.
I don’t care who pays for it.
Dublin City Council said it would not be commenting on the incidents when contacted for a statement.
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