Issue 18 “Dream! Dare! Do!’
- guidebook to regeneration published by Fatima

An advice manual on regeneration called ‘Dream, Dare, Do!’ has been published by Fatima Groups United and comes – free-of-charge to community groups – with a DVD on the experience.
Many local authority estates are built on land that developers would pay big money to take over wholesale. With regeneration schemes aimed at rejuvenating disadvantaged areas and replacing old housing stock, communities have been involved in power-struggles to retain land for local residents and not have an excessive proportion of it turned over to private use. Fatima, in particular,have succeeded against tremendous odds to ensure the regeneration process was of primary benefit to the residents.
Now Fatima Groups United - a Family Resource Centre funded through the Family Support Agency – has produced the timely guide.
The book includes tips on regeneration, such as how to best handle power struggles especially when in negotiations with local authorities and developers.
The publication also includes an extra section giving tips on how people can avoid falling into money traps with unscrupulous and illegal money-lenders.
June 30th marked the handing over of the final two blocks of flats by residents of Fatima Mansions. Over 100 new homes have been built as part of the regeneration (featured in the Spring edition of ‘Changing Ireland’) and 13 of the 1950s-era blocks have been knocked to make way for a regenerated community.
For more information and a copy of ‘Dream, Dare, Do!’, contact:
Joe Donohue, Project Co-ordinator,
Fatima Groups United,
18J Fatima Mansions, Reubens St.,
Rialto, Dublin 8 (post is being redirected from this address to their temporary premises).
Tel. 01-453-4722.

Issue 17
Step-by-step to successful regeneration

Gone but not forgotten
Know what you want - don’t be afraid to dream.
Have an independent legal structure - an executive and independent chair.
Set up a strategic advisory group.
Insist on resources from the beginning.
Don’t forget the community’s ongoing needs.
Ensure that the Social Plans have equal importance as the Physical Plans.
Develop Communications Strategy - local/national.
Know the timeframe - don’t build false hopes.
Have a united community front.
Develop alliances/ supports for your vision.

Youngsters involved
Novel ways were adopted to get younger residents involved and enthusiastic about the community-backed regeneration programme for Fatima: Small groups of local kids (5-10-year-olds, 11-15-year-olds and 15-plus) were invited to see the plans and to see some of the first new houses. The children then presented what they saw back to their peers.

Project teaches benefits of activism
When an urban regeneration plan was announced by Dublin City Council (DCC), the FGU staff knocked on every single door (over 360). They explained to residents that the only way they would achieve anything was by getting as many people as possible involved in changing the community.
FGU went to the city council, at first just asking for a few changes to the regeneration plan, but after twice pulling out of negotiations with the council, they eventually realised that simply demolishing the flats and re-housing the people was not enough to create a safe and sustainable community.
So, they found out what the residents wanted, physically and for the social agenda. They then took the initiative by commissioning a report from Dr. Mary Corcoran of Maynooth and got architects and planners to draw up their own master plan for Fatima "11 acres - 10 steps" which the Council then incorporated into the plans for redeveloping the community. It gave the community influence on how the project would proceed and established the Fatima Regeneration Board, with the residents having 6 of the 11 seats on the board, and the remaining 5 going to the council, the developer, Gardai, and the Health Board.
The community now has a well-being centre (which provides health services beyond the bad old days of issuing methadone to heroin addicts) a crèche, and a homework club to help kids stay in education.
The residents also negotiated a local labour clause to ensure that some of the residents could find employment in the demolition and construction involved, while others would get pre-apprenticeship training so they could apply for construction work in the future.

CCTV does not always appeal
In Dublin, Fatima residents voted recently not to install a CCTV system in their new neighbourhood, reports Tim Hourigan.
They hoped that it will not be needed, but they also were not very impressed with the usefulness of CCTV, complaining that the CCTV system in the old flats complex was not actively monitored, and was generally only used by the council and the Gardai during evictions or raids.
As visitor Paddy Flannery from Moyross, Limerick, pointed out, an unmonitored system is of little use in deterring anti-social behaviour.
In Moyross, where Paddy is manager of the Community Enterprise Centre, it is monitored on a 24-hour basis, and the footage has been used in several successful prosecutions.
On the subject of viable residents groups, Tracy McElligott, a development worker with Moyross Residents’ Forum (and a member of the local CDP) outlined that since there were 1100 houses in her area, it was decided to break the estate up into 11 more manageable parks. Each park now has a residents association and each has two delegates who sit on the main Residents Forum along with representatives from the community centre, local council, gardai, Bus Eireann, and other groups working in the community.
This approach gives residents more involvement in and awareness of issues such as public lighting, the management of green areas, and protecting the bus service, claims Tracy.

‘Not used to heating’
One long-time Fatima resident said there was no central heating in the old flats and the people on the top floor had to bring coal bags up the three flights of stairs.
She is happy in her new house, but there are some things she’s not quite used to yet: "I turn off the central heating, cos I never had it in the flats and I’m not used to it."

Blending in
Most of the new houses (with apartments overhead) are built with yellow brick, but the ones on St. Anthony’s road are redbrick, to fit in with the older houses. Rather than towering over the neighbourhood, like the old flats, the new houses have been designed to blend in with pre-existing houses in neighbouring streets.

Mind your gables!
A regeneration tip:
Instead of having gable ends as part of the public space, enclose the gables with a small wall or fence so people cannot congregate as easily at the side of anyone’s house.

Issue 16
Urban Regeneration process criticised at TCD conference
There was heavy criticism of the lack of an effective community role in the Public Private Partnership model of Urban Regeneration at a recent conference in Trinity College hosted by the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies.
Representatives from the Community Forum in O’Devanney Gardens questioned the accuracy of the claim from Claire Feeney from Dublin City Council when she said that the Regeneration Board for the O’Devanney Gardens project had already been set up.
"The Regeneration Board has not been set up as a separate company as was the case in Fatima Mansions," said Lena Jordan from the O’Devanney Gardens Community Forum. "We also query the status of the community charter agreed by Dublin City Council because the Regeneration Board has no teeth, and the developer will put pressure on to get more private apartments and retail space at the expense of community facilities."
The €280million O’Devanney Gardens development is one of the biggest undertaken by Dublin City Council through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) process. The tender process is almost complete and the developer will be announced shortly. Grainne Foy, Development Worker with An Siol CDP was critical of the way existing community structures such as the Community Forum were by-passed in the consultation process.
"The Community Forum had been working on this issue since 1997, but at a critical time when the Community Charter was being agreed, they were effectively by-passed," she said.
Michael Punch from the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, was also critical of the process undertaken within O’Devanney Gardens. A good regeneration process, he said, requires two things in order that there is an effective delivery of community gain - a period of capacity building for the local community groups, and a regeneration board with legal status and an independent chair.
Summarising a research paper based on the O’Devanney Gardens experience, he said the recommendations at community level were to:
a) develop an independent and strong local structure,

b) don’t get divided,

c) keep asking questions,

d) and learn from elsewhere and seek advice from groups such as the local CDPs working in your area.

Several contributers at the Trinity College conference commented that there now seemed to be ‘definite rowback’ in Dublin City Council policy since the experience of Fatima Mansions. (See story below).
Joe O’Donoghue of Fatima Groups United admits there is a lot of drawbacks with the PPP process but says that as a result of the local organisation of community groups and the effective use of media and lobbying, the local community has been able to gain significant concessions in the regeneration process.
Earlier in the year CDPs working in several DCC areas were concerned that they were being purposefully ‘bypassed’ by DCC officials in consultation processes linked to urban regeneration.
According to the CDPs, Dublin City Council seemed intent on regarding the CDPs as an ‘external layer’ and wanted only to deal with tenant groups directly. In a later meeting with DCC the CDPs were reassured by DCC representatives that their role in consultation and regeneration was fully recognised.
Further doubt has been thrown on the PPP process in a recent article in the Irish Times by Dr Eoin Reeves of the University of Limerick.
"The economic case for PPP is weak," he said. A project to contract and build schools was recently subject to a review by the Auditor and Comptroller General who found the cost was 8% to 13% higher than using the conventional approach of direct state expenditure.

Issue 16
President fan of Fatima people-power
President Mary McAleese visited Fatima Mansions United in mid-November to congratulate the local regeneration board for "setting an agenda for disadvantaged communities everywhere."
"There is an air of optimism and excitement in the area as the work of Fatima Groups United and The Fatima Regeneration Board, under the chairmanship of Finbarr Flood, reveals itself in one of our country's most ambitious regeneration projects," she said.
In Fatima Mansions, the Regeneration Company was set up as a separate company with an independent chairperson and CEO employed by the Regeneration company. A Social Regeneration Agenda forms a major part of the local plan in achieving ‘community gain’ from the Public-Private Partnership process.
"When I last was here, your plans were just that – a book of ideas, born out of very bleak times and a strong determination that things were going to get better. Your faith, resilience and commitment are as incredible as they are inspirational, for few communities experienced such overwhelming problems as you did," said the Republic’s President.
She hoped that community spirit is "soaring with pride", adding: "This is people power at its shining best."
"A community knocked down by so many adversities has fought back, taken control of its landscape, its future and the future of its children. You have said loud and clear that tomorrow's Ireland is going to be a place where people care about one another, where children grow up in safe neighbourhoods, where their talents blossom naturally and where poverty and disadvantage are under constant attack until they disappear from our history books for good."
The first phase of the redevelopment, the completion of 110 houses for Dublin City Council tenants, is finished and Phase Two is due to start soon. Some of the old flats remained to be demolished.
Once finished, there will be homes, gardens, a Luas stop, shops, a community centre, a swimming pool, gym, crèche and outdoor football areas.
"The people who live here will, I hope, find here the happiness of a peaceful community free from the scourges that threatened their peace of mind for so many long years," said President McAleeese, adding: "Fatima has set the standard and awakened the ambitions of other neighbourhoods that yearn for regeneration. Fatima is now the place that others are looking to for advice and guidance – what a transformation – what a credit to the people of Fatima Mansions."
She thanked Gemma McKenna and Joe Donohoe of the Fatima Groups United for their invitation to Fatima.