Owen Keegan, DCC manager, sneers at homeless students

Shelga

What do people think of his sarcastic and disdainful tone, in a letter to the president of UCD student union, Ruairí Power, who had expressed concern that purpose-built student accommodation (571 units, I believe- on Arran Quay) had been given permission to be turned into short-term holiday lets until May 2022?

I mean, not to ask a leading question or anything, but I hope this leads to the resignation of Keegan, who seems completely out of touch with the everyday problems faced by Dubliners. Just sick of every last one of the sneering overprivileged goons who rule over us. Also how was he able to unilaterally extend his own contract by 3 years? Guess lots of people would do the same if they were on €190k, despite having major shortcomings and a lack of basic human empathy.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058212699/owen-keegan-dcc-manager-sneers-at-homeless-students

Keegan has been an out of touch pr!ck for years. Resignation? He's an untouchable. Think John Delaney but on a much wider scale.

markodaly

Where is the full letter?

VinLieger

This is the guy who set the policy of DCC to remove bins and toilets from the city centre because people might use them. He is the very antithesis of public service, everything he does is towards his own self serving agenda. He left Dun Laoighaire as a shell of town when he moved to DCC, ironically it took covid for them to be able to fully wipe the slate clean of his idiotic policies and they are now finally turning the place around but it will take years to get back to where they should have been if it wasnt for him.

Sure he approved his own contract to be extended by 3 years.... in what world should a public servant be able to decide this?

Hopefully this finally gets him shifted out of his throne in DCC but im not holding my breath.

Shelga

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007421#Comment_118007421

Here is the full letter:

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007433#Comment_118007433

Thats even worse.

maestroamado

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058212699/owen-keegan-dcc-manager-sneers-at-homeless-students

First of all i think the comment in the letter is a disgrace but if the Union have the funds why not. I assume Mr Keegan knows what he talking about to make a statement like that...

The powers that be will do as they please as we are a greedy people (all of us) then when its too late we complain. Vulture funds have being buying up properties in this Country for about 5 years and its only in recent months it became a political topic. At the same time this was being debated NAMA (a state agency) sold a large number of apartments to a British fund. Why were the Union not talking about it when one company bought 300+ apartments in west Dublin 3 years ago, around the same time there was a whole housing estate sold to a fund around Lepardstown to a fund. These developments should have been pickets put on these to ensure they were sold to families who wanted to buy homes. I said it here at the time in a thread (cuckoo properties) and basically i was told to keep quiet. This ship has sailed and not huch point in complaining when the damage has already being done...

markodaly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007433#Comment_118007433

Haha, UCDSU is being schooled here, and it looks like they deserve it.

Is it true that UCDSU did not submit any submissions when this was going to planning? If not, why not?

They are coming across as reactionary amateurs, if so.

UCDSU should take this on the chin and learn from it.

Peregrinus

I haven't seen the SU letter to which this is a reply, but taken in isolation Keegan's comment looks odd. If there were excess profits to be made in the PBSA ("purpose built student accommodation") market, developers would hardly be looking for change-of-use to take their properties out of that market and into the short-stay tourism market. The Union's point is much more likely to have been that developers are attracted by excess profits in the short-stay tourism market, surely?

Aside from that, Keegan's comment is mean-spirited and stupid. Excess profits in any market are only available to those with capital to invest in that market; the whole objection to excess profits is that they are the result of a market distortion which operates to transfer wealth from customers/consumers to capitalists. The SU, as a not-for-profit student body, represents and advocates for the customer/consumer stakeholders, not the capitalists. Keegan is not so stupid as to not understand this, so I take his comment to be a sneer, and a nasty one, suggesting that the Union is wasting its time advocating for customers/consumers, and should align itself with the capitalists who benefit from excess profits.

It gives the impression that it has never crossed Keegan's mind that there might be anything wrong with excess profits, or that anyone else might think that there was.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007471#Comment_118007471

Because those weren't student accommodation.

From reading the full letter, it seems that Keegan is saying that the students' union is not allowed to criticise the decision to make student accommodation available to students because they didn't hang about the site, keeping an eye out for planning notices, and didn't scour any of the national newspapers classified ads for notices. Leaving aside the now tiny circulation of the papers and that any with a national circulation could be used, who would expect that student accommodation would have an application for change of use put through, never mind approved.

godtabh

Why didn’t the student union object?

dudley72

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058212699/owen-keegan-dcc-manager-sneers-at-homeless-students

From what I read it was brought to a vote and all parties kept him in the role.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007490#Comment_118007490

How likely are they have been aware of the application in time to object?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007492#Comment_118007492

From Dublin City Councils website

• ”A copy of the public site notice: The site notice isshould be placed on site for five weeks from the date of receipt of the planning application. You must replace the site notice if it becomes illegible or is removed, as failure to do so may invalidate your application. The site notice must be located where the site meets the public road and should be clearly visible to members of the public”

Penn

It's very easy for people to not notice when site notices have been erected, especially in urban areas. Yes, they have to be put in specific places, but you're talking about a piece of A4 paper stuck on a wall or a gate. Very easy to walk past and not read. Likewise, there are numerous papers the newspaper notice could have been in and a Student Union aren't responsible for trying to read all of them every day.

Regardless, just because someone doesn't object, doesn't mean "Everyone's fine with it, plough ahead". The planners still have to make a decision based on what's in the public interest, which means they would have had to have considered the detrimental effects granting the application would have on student housing regardless of whether or not the student union made an objection saying "Please consider the detrimental effects granting the application would have on student housing." Which means it's very likely that even if the student union did object, it likely would have been granted anyway (though the student union could then object to An Bord Pleanala, slowing the process down etc).

Owen Keegan is completely in the wrong here, and not just for his attitude. But it's his attitude that shows his position has to now be strongly considered and assessed by those with the power to remove him.

Are there copies available online of all the correspondence between them?

KildareP

Suspect there may be more to this than one side of what appears to be a lengthy back and forward exchange.

They really don't do themselves any favours by virtue of the fact they didn't object when they had the chance.

As far as planning is concerned, if you don't make a submission you quite literally have no right to later complain or appeal if it does not go in your favour.

You don't have to hang around sites or scour newspapers, every county council must publish all planning correspondence online on their website.

A quick search every week or two of the local authority's planning portal would have shown the application going up with several weeks before submissions close to put in a response.

There are even free services out there that will do that search automatically for you and send you an e-mail as soon as something gets added.

Dempo1

This Man has thrived on controversy for many, many, many years, from his time in Dun Laoghaire until now , I doubt a year has gone by were he hasn't stirred a hornets nest with comments and opinions.

He'll give this latest controversy less time than it took to write the letter, he seems determined to be the Michael O Leary of local government. Politicians will huff and puff, there'll be outrage expressed from all quarters, Keegan won't give a toss, never has and He'll retain his position until such time he decides to retire all the while having a smirk on his face.

Untouchable, Unaccountable and most definitely, unapologetic.

bucketybuck

So Ruairí Power is whinging about some planning that they never bothered objecting to when the opportunity was there, Keegan appears to be correcting him on some simple points of fact, and since Powers has no valid answer his response is to share that correspondence with the media?

Its not Keegan who is coming off as a dick there.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007504#Comment_118007504

Are UCDSU expected to have been monitoring a site in Smithfield to see if a planning notice for an unexpected change of use would be posted?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007537#Comment_118007537

Well the Minister for Housing disagrees with you, as he has already said this change in planning should not have been permitted and instructed all Councils no other such applications should be approved.

maestroamado

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007492#Comment_118007492

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007486#Comment_118007486

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007492#Comment_118007492

All accommodation within Keegan's remit is part of this discussion for me...

I cannot understand how student accommodation was changed without the knowledge of the union... this is all on-line...

Also is this temporary and will revert in May...

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007537#Comment_118007537

For purpose built student accommodation (likely built with tax breaks), how would anyone expect to need to monitor DCC's website to make sure that there isn't any change of use applications to change it over to Air BnB? And how could that have gotten permission, even without an objection? Is there a need for short term accommodation for tourists during a global pandemic? Is the need so great that it is more important than the shortage of accommodation of the type that the building was specifically constructed (and granted planning permission) for?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007548#Comment_118007548

Ffs even the actual minister with responsibility for housing said what happened with the change in planning was unacceptable and still we have posters in here licking boot.

KildareP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007557#Comment_118007557

That's the Minister for Housing overriding the planning system and it's processes.

Don't get me wrong the planning system in this country is dysfunctional in many ways but there is a process here.

If everyone could complain retrospectively about planning applications then absolutely nothing would get built in this country.

Sort of like certain parties lambasting the government about a shortage of housing whilst simultaneously objecting against the granting of planning permission for housing.

And based on the track record of how the Housing Minister(s) has handled the rental crisis, expect his department to make a complete hash of this too.

The J Stands for Jay

"But the plans were on display…”

“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”

“That’s the display department.”

“With a flashlight.”

“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”

“So had the stairs.”

“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard."

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007563#Comment_118007563

Welcome to boards :D

KildareP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007572#Comment_118007572

View or Search Planning Applications | Dublin City Council

And if you'd rather not Search once a week then:

MapAlerter.ie // Free Text Alert Service for Irish Council Issues - MapAlerter, Free Text Alert for Irish Council Issues (water, planning, roads)

Takes all of 5 minutes to set up, I did it when I moved to my present area 5 years ago and every planning application that goes up gets e-mailed automatically to me.

listermint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007581#Comment_118007581

I'd assume that anyone who saw that advertised and planned and permitted purpose built 'student accommodation' designed specifically for purpose in its entire layout and most likely benefiting from tax breaks would have needed to be monitoring. On what metric this change got clearance is astounding I'm personally trying to understand how this was allowed. Did it go to a vote ? Councilors if they were involved should have to publically explain their thinking .

This is subversion of the planning process.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007555#Comment_118007555

I haven’t a notion. Don’t get me wrong, a change to the use of the building which covered 2 semesters should never have been granted. I may have tuned out of all the covid stuff a long time ago but even I was aware that getting students back to their classrooms was always happening.

Id just like to see the full correspondence between both parties. Were they getting digs in at each other prior to the above letter?

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007581#Comment_118007581

You can't expect a student union to do some actual legwork!!

KildareP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007607#Comment_118007607

I would be very interested to find out too.

There has to be far more to this than just one half of a very sharp letter exchange and I'm always immediately suspicious when a party to a dispute only publishes one side of, or a very small portion of, a wider exchange.

Murph85

The universities should be forced to provide minimum fifty percent of bed spaces of the total attending that college. That would make serious inroads into the problem...

titan18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007504#Comment_118007504

Tbf, with covid and campuses being closed last year, a lot of the students would not have been close to campus so could easily have been missed. You could have put that notice up last year or even during the summer usually and it'll likely be missed as students aren't around.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007813#Comment_118007813

I agree

VinLieger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007768#Comment_118007768

Great and how is this paid for considering 3rd level funding has been slashed in the last decade? Where do they then build these magically paid for buildings?

Murph85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007836#Comment_118007836

On their own land first and foremost. Tons of ultra low density crap on it now... or outside their own campus if needs be. if they dont have the funds, set up a state one. But rents should be capped at affordable levels...

If they were forced to do that. It would provide a serious amount of new units...

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007560#Comment_118007560

Why would the students check for planning applications on a purpose built student accommodation building? How would it ever cross their minds that the owners would seek to change its use before it was put into use?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118008136#Comment_118008136

I think that it’s the Students Union who missed the planning application, not the actual students themselves.

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118008136#Comment_118008136

Well they'll know now for future reference.

Cyclingtourist

Students are sooooooooooo sensitive.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118008167#Comment_118008167

They sure will. Any places that were intended for students should now be monitored going forward to ensure that the SU can object to any applications which should be rejected anyway.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118008163#Comment_118008163

I was too lazy to type UCDSU on my phone again.

Ave Sodalis

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118008163#Comment_118008163

Student Unions are typically students.

dudley72

The uni's should be pushing more remote learning, the students are older enough to know if they don't show up they fail. Dragging thousands of students up to Dublin to sit in a room when potentially 70% of the lectures can be done remote seems pointless. A system when students have 1-2 days a week or month would be better.

If I google in the US they seem to offer degrees etc remote

maestroamado

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118008136#Comment_118008136

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118007561#Comment_118007561

Thi post is an answer to why they need to do this... We a re sneaky as people and the politicians are at the top of the pile.. Pretty well everything that is done in this country is because of lobbying of a group and the media...

I see the same Mr Keegan is saying nothing about the proposed concerts in Croke park this time as it looks like that planning is also being reviewed...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118008202#Comment_118008202

The officers usually take a years sabbatical to work in SU. Yes, they are students, but ones who work for the students in their College.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118008216#Comment_118008216

There have been distance learning options for many years. Open University most obviously.

But there is a lot more to university education than just lectures, and even then the online version is a poor substitute for in person lecturing (much less interaction and the lecturer even finds it difficult to “read the room” when teaching online compared to in a class).

And anyhow, why should students cede accommodation to the tourist sector? Who has more pressing reasons to be in the city, people who work and study there, or tourists?

bucketybuck

Any sign of a copy of the original letter sent by Power to keegan?

SupplyandDemandZone

People looking to be out raged shocker.

Keegan was once my boss. From my knowledge of him, it figures.