“Artwork in anticipation of door knocking politicians” is a site-specific public artwork that employs a series of texts and images in the form of doormats for use in homes in Dublin 8. It is a creative intervention that is designed for the timeframe of the 2024 local and European elections, as well as the upcoming general election. The artwork engages with one of the most pressing issues on the doorstep, that of housing. The doormats are available for free to people living in the Dublin 8 area.

Dublin 8 has seen a lot of changes over the years. It is an area with a strong sense of its own history and identity, a mix of old and new communities that have made the place their home. This has created a vibrant neighborhood with a strong mix of cultures. With this comes an ongoing need for public investment – in housing, sport, education, cultural and community facilities. There have been gains over the years and campaigns for improvements are still ongoing. They show that Dublin 8 has a sense of the type of community it wants. The question is, though: are we getting an opportunity to contribute to the plans that the government has for the area, or are they being made for us? Communities are certainly being consulted, but that does not mean that they are being listened to.

SWEAT THE ASSET

Mat #1. Artwork in anticipation of door knocking politicians (2024)

There is a specific form of housing development taking place in Dublin 8. Traditionally, the area was a mixed-use community of public and private housing, businesses, and shared amenities that developed over time. We are now seeing a rapid transformation towards an oversaturation of transient housing in the form of hotels, aparthotels, short-term student accommodation, co-living, Airbnb, and private build-to-rent. This is unprecedented and it is happening at a greater rate in Dublin 8 than in any other area in the country. The building of public housing has effectively been stalled. This is changing the nature of the community. It is determining who can and cannot live in the area.

None of this is by accident. We hear that these changes are because of the needs of the market, that it is what investors want. The reality is that this is the planned result of a series of political and legal changes over the past ten years and the decision by the state to encourage institutional landlordism to take flight in the area. The government has designed policies to attract this type of investment, and has been very open about it. Rezoning land, tax breaks, the handing over of public land for private gain – these are not market decisions but political ones.

NO PLACE TO PLAY IN DUBLIN 8

Mat #5. Artwork in anticipation of door knocking politicians (2024). The text was originally found on a hand-made protest sign tied to a pole in D8

Why is this happening? The devil, as they always say, is in the details. The government only made it legal for REITs [Real Estate Investment Trusts] to operate in Ireland in 2013. NAMA had championed the idea of REITs since 2011 and once the law was in place it began to sell off its housing portfolio to them with gusto. NAMA encouraged private investors to set up REITs and buy NAMA assets. In 2015 the government brought in further legislation to make it easier for institutional landlords and property investment companies to set up legal structures known as Irish Collective Asset-Management Vehicles (ICAVs) in the state.

Creating alpha through hands on value creation

Mat #12. Artwork in anticipation of door knocking politicians (2024). Text taken from a website for Crossroads Real Estate, a private equity investor firm with a development on Cork St

These changes have fed into the type of housing developments that we see in Dublin 8, such as in Clancy Quay, the Liberties, and the upcoming Hines’ development on the South Circular Road. It is not in the interests of these companies to see the housing crisis tackled as their profits are actually based on the crisis. They need scarcity in housing as more public housing would mean lower rents. The overall result is high rents today and higher rents tomorrow. They can charge more in a crisis and so, in many ways, crisis is their business.

Ireland is currently one of the most profitable states for these investors because of the crisis. Some of the apartments they either buy or build themselves are held back from the rental market in order to ensure rents keep rising. The government has made it easier for this type of housing to operate in Dublin 8 where multi-occupancy student apartments, co-living blocks, and build-to-rents are becoming the norm. These types of developments encourage transient and temporary tenancies, which increase the potential for short-term profit. People often blame “foreigners” for the housing crisis, but it is foreign investment funds that are the issue. They are buying up land and entire housing estates, while getting tax breaks to do so. They are simply pushing rents and house prices beyond what people can afford. The type of rooted and stable communities we want have no place in their balance sheets.

To remedy the evils of city life the citizens must own the city

Mat #8. Artwork in anticipation of door knocking politicians (2024). Text taken from James Connolly, Pimlico, Dublin

When we look at history, though, we can see that this is not the first time the residents of Dublin 8 have both faced and fought against such vultures and the financialisation of housing. We tend to think of history as a straight line, but we have been here before. James Connolly, while living in Pimlico in Dublin 8, campaigned against similar policies in the 1890s. The past is never the past. We can see public land in St. Teresa’s Gardens given over to Hines on a promise of a playing pitch for which no firm date has been given, but we also see Sporting Liberties win a commitment from Dublin City Council for pitch facilities in Marrowbone Lane. There are organisations such as CATU [Community Action Tenants Union] fighting for public housing and associated facilities to be built on public land by a publicly-owned construction company, one that is beholden to the needs of the community and not corporate shareholders. The past is never the past; the struggle is in our blood.

In Ireland if you live in unfit housing, are “couch surfing” of even living in a car, you are still not counted as homeless

Mat #17. Artwork in anticipation of door knocking politicians (2024)

During election time, data will be used by various politicians to spin particular stories on the doorsteps to convince the electorate to vote for them. Data is often presented as neutral, but how neutral is it? Data can conceal class, prejudice, and profit. When we explore issues of homelessness, for example, we have to ask: who decides what data is collected or not collected? Is the collection of an incomplete set of data a strategy designed in the knowledge that it may in some circumstances conceal the gravity of a problem or shape public perception in a particular direction? What is measured and what is not measured, matters. We know that the definition of homelessness used by various authorities is incredibly narrow and restrictive. Is this by mistake? Is it policy to hide homelessness in the statistics? Is this about helping financialised housing with tax breaks and the allocation of public land for private gain?

Matt#18. Artwork in anticipation of door knocking politicians (2024). Graffiti by unknown artist on a building hoarding, Newmarket Yard, Cork St, D8

This artwork is an attempt to open a conversation, to pose questions, to prompt reflection, and to place data, policy, class, and resistance quite literally at the feet of politicians and voters. How do we create the kind of community we want to see? What kind of strategies do we need to challenge international investment funds in Dublin 8? How do we create unity rather than division within communities? What kind of collective future do we want for Dublin 8? These are the conversations that matter.

ARTWORK

The artwork was created by Augustine O Donoghue and Conor McCabe. O Donoghue is an artist and has lived in Dublin 8 for over twenty years and is currently Artist-in-Residence on the Data Stories Project, Maynooth University. Conor McCabe is a researcher and writer. Collectively they work under the name, School of Thought, and are currently based in Studio 468, St. Andrews Community Centre, Rialto, supported by Common Ground.