FOOTAGE SHOWING A party at a back garden in a Dublin suburb have been shared online along with misleading captions indicating that the government is building housing estates specifically for African migrants.

The footage was filmed at a housing estate in a home that is owned by an investment fund and whose neighbouring homes have been sold on the open market. 

“Meanwhile in Dublin, Ireland,” beings a 2 June post on X viewed more than 271,100 times 

“A brand brand-new housing, which appears to be purposely built for African Migrants. Watch as they party & suck up balloons, all on behalf of the Irish Tax Payer who have been finding their own replacement.”

Former independent election candidate Brian Garrigan also shared the video on X the same day, saying “this is Dublin housing built for illegal immigrants all with your taxes #IrishLivesMatter”.

Similar posts were also published on Facebook, including one published on a Belfast-based page on 2 June describing the footage as showing “A new-build SOCIAL housing estate in Dublin, full to the brim with Africans partying.”

These descriptions are all misleading. Suffice it to say: the Irish government does not purposely build social housing for Africans.

In addition, neither illegal immigrants nor international protection seekers are eligible for social housing, and the property shown in the video is privately owned.

The footage originally comes from a TikTok page of a Dublin-based DJ.

“We don’t really get the sun in this country,” a voiceover in a Dublin accent says. “So when we get five minutes we have to take advantage. First barbecue of the summer. Let’s see how it went?”

The footage then shows images of barbecue foods being bought, then cooked, followed by the clips of a crowd partying in the back garden that spread widely on social media.

While a more exact location is not given in the description, multiple features seen in the video can be used to determine the exact address, including the layout and styles of houses, how the roofs are arranged and — most helpfully of all when compared with Satellite imagery — some distinctive arrays of solar panels on the roof.

Distinct solar panel layouts can be seen from space.

The footage was filmed in Hollywoodrath, in northwest Dublin.

While these estates are largely privately built and owned, some houses in the area are used for social housing under Part V regulations, which requires housing developers to reserve up to 20% of their land or homes for social and affordable housing.

“Since 2018, Fingal County Council has taken approximately 170 new homes into its social housing stock through Part V and other delivery mechanisms,” said Fingal County Council said in an email noting that this was “spread across a number of different developments” in the Hollywoodrath, Hollystown and Kilmartin areas.

So, was the house that this video was filmed on social housing?

More information about the house at that address is available on the property price register, which shows that it was sold in 2021, along with scores of other nearby houses in a deal worth €31,194,958.

But was it sold to the council?

No. By purchasing the folio of the property, The Journal was able to confirm that those properties are owned by The Davy Platform ICAV — an investment fund with a history of property financing.

This is to say, the house, and indeed many of the houses around it, are owned by a private fund intended to generate profits for its investors by renting them out.

Not just does the footage not show a purpose-built social housing estate for Africans — it does not even show a council-owned home.

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