COUNCILLORS IN SOUTH County Dublin are considering taking High Court action over the executive’s intention to hike rents without proper consultation.
Some tenants could face a rent increase of up to 25% under the controversial increase, which is the first planned change to how tenants’ rent is calculated in 30 years.
Councillors were told in May of the change, which is to come into effect on 1 July.
A February motion instructing the executive to engage with tenants and unions before hiking rents wasn’t upheld. Council motions are generally not legally binding.
Critics say the increases are unfair given the financial strain many households are under, and the conditions in which some of them are living. Meanwhile, the executive says the extra funds are needed for rising maintenance costs.
Councillors from Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, and People Before Profit, as well as some Independents, planned a special meeting to vote on an emergency motion that would force the executive to consult stakeholders before taking action.
The executive initially said it would not allow the vote to take place today because the motion was “invalid”. A solicitor acting on behalf of People Before Profit Councillor Jess Spear argued against this claim.
In a response, seen by The Journal, chief executive Colm Ward said the council was acting on foot of legal advice but, after Spear indicated her intention to seek a judicial review, it would be best to allow the vote to go ahead, given the resources a legal challenge would require.
However, Ward added that should the motion pass, it would “not give effect to any material action or outcome by the executive”.
Speaking to The Journal on Thursday, Spear said: “All the indications are that they’re not going to implement it, so we will have to go to the High Court and seek judicial review.
“My solicitors feel very, very confident that they’re going to find against the council and in favour of us.”
Councillors from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael didn’t attend today’s meeting.
Spear described this as “cowardly”, and said she believes it was a tactic to prevent the meeting from reaching quorum.
With 15 councillors in attendance today, quorum was reached. All but one voted in favour of the motion. Mayor Pamela Kearns of the Labour Party voted against it.
Sinn Féin councillor William Carey said the poor attendance was an attempt to stifle the democratic process.
He said the 24 councillors who didn’t show “refuse to have a proper debate of what is essentially the most important single issue” for residents of South Dublin County Council.
The rent increases are due to come into effect on Wednesday.
The amount of additional rent people will be expected to pay will be calculated on the basis of their income, and what category they fall into (i.e. single parent households will have a different rate).
Speaking to The Journal in May, South Dublin County Council said the council’s 2026 revenue budget, adopted by elected members last November, “recognised the need for additional income through an updated differential rent scheme to sustainably maintain and improve our social housing stock”.
“Proposed amendments to rents have been informed by a detailed review of tenant household incomes, local and national rents, and future housing maintenance requirements arising from ongoing social housing stock condition surveys,” it said.
“Despite our higher maintenance costs and increasing future requirements, rents charged by SDCC were generally lowest of all local authorities nationally across a range of different household sizes and incomes.”
It also said that local councillors have highlighted some instances where “households with incomes in excess of social housing thresholds were paying a disproportionately higher percentage of their income on rent”.