BEDSITS OF DUBLIN
Mar 30th, 2010 by Conor McCabe
Most Irish people, certainly of my 40-something age anyway, have lived in rented accommodation at some stage in their life. And of that, more than a few of us have lived in bed-sits.
I’ve worked out that in the past twenty years or so I’ve had 16 different addresses - shared houses, apartments, flats, etc. The worst place I ever lived in was in 1996-97. It was on the Drumcondra Road, ground-floor studio, with bed and fridge and cooker all next to each other. I was reading a lot of Bukowski at the time and I thought that this cheap room was going to make me a writer.
It didn’t. Rewrites make a writer. That room just made me depressed.
I was quite literally saved one evening by Seán Baite when he showed up with his brother and they bundled all my stuff into the back of a van. They then drove me over to Rathmines where I ended up sharing an apartment with Seán, his partner and their child, and a friend of ours from Australia.
Today I was talking to my flat-mate and for some reason Knut Hamsun and his novel Hunger popped up in the conversation.
It got me thinking about that time in Drumcondra, and so I went onto Daft.ie to have a look at what’s available these days. I thought that maybe bed-sits were a thing of the past, what with all the apartments that have been built in the past ten years.
No such luck.
Here’s a collection of photos of bed-sits I’ve culled from the website.
And remember, the object of these images is to try to sell the place to a prospective occupier like your good self.
In other words, this is the good side of the room.
Fair warning, I hope.
Oh Jesus. Horrifying. I can smell the kipper rising off the carpet in the last pic. I remember seeing a place in Stoneybatter in 2001 with a shared washing machine under the stairs, a single cooker ring and a tabletop fridge. You couldn’t open the door fully cos it hit against the bed. All yours for the princely sum of £650 a month. The owner said “I’ve a two bedroom flat in Rathfarnham for £1200 if you’d be interested in that….”
Suicide boxes, the lot of them. Absolutely horrible.
I’ve never had the pleasure of living in a bedsit, for more than a week anyway. But my favourite renting experience was back in 2002, viewing a 2 bed round the corner from the American Embassay. Thought I was on to a winner until I was led into the basement. In the tiny low ceilinged living room there were hundreds of silver lines trailing across the dark red carpet. Interrupting the estate agents spiel, I asked him what they were, he said it was just the pattern on the carpet, and then carried on…
Bloody hell.
Ah memories. You should do an exhibition.
Check out this press release (2008) from the Irish Property Owner’s Association. They were aghast (”How grand are we getting?”) … at proposals to introduce minimum standards in bedsits.
At the time they were quoted in the IT along the lines that bedsits were necessary because they provide accommodation to people who live “on the margins of society” and who are “mentally ill”. Ban bedsits, and these people would be roaming the streets! Apparently, they saw themselves at being society’s saving grace.
It’s very alarming to read in the IT that you are living on the margins of society and possibly mentally ill.
“A Step Too Far - Banning Bedsits”
http://www.ipoa.ie/userfiles/File/2008-11-08%20Banning%20Bedsits%20Released.doc
Thanks very much for that Professor.
Jesus. This just gets worse and worse.
Reminds me of the DDR museum in Berlin.
I live in those “suicide boxes” or similar ever since I came to Ireland, simply because my employees never pay enough for me to be able to rent anything else, with those prices you have no chance. And well, no, I don’t want to became a writer … I just want a decent living in exchange for a hard work.
I do live “on a margin of society” indeed, in a way, simply for being underpaid… while working for “the best companies of the world” in administration/IT. I do not consider myself “mentally ill” either, I do wonder about my employees however…how do they imagine should I/we live???
Something is terribly wrong here.
The Civil War 1922, (and 1916) all those big grand houses were owned by v.v.well-to-do; then many became atrocious housing for the poor (Juno and the Paycock, etc.).
The strategy however, is way more devious than that ?
Mantra-like, from that time, and before, ? banks and these moneyed owners, would know that it is in their interests to be derisory about the poor, unskilled, single. There is also the extremely important factor of ‘class’. Many poor people did (do) have some (misplaced?) pride; and the area/address they do consider; - This has been the real boon to these grimy landlords and they would/might even be on the local council ? - and council housing would be placed away, away, from any familiar parishes. And the poor did not realise that the councils may have been overseen by ………… private landlords ?
Then maybe in 1940’s there was a population drive? so the landlords’ justification for these places was “it’s better they do not stay single anyway, and I’m really being patriotic by keeping the places awful”.
Now it is; keep people moving from one bleary dreary cardboard walled place, to the next bleary dreary cardboard walled place.
But - always rented.
Oh God! I am thinking of moving to Dublin from England and was just perusing the bedsits for somewhere to live when I came across this article. Its put me right off and scared me to death (suicide boxes :-)!!!)
I am reminded that teh work of the DHAC and Dennis Dennehy is not complete.
Go for a house-share, Beth. Cheap and cheerful until you find your feet. Stay away from the bedsits, though. Aint worth the anguish.
I think in Dublin there are some very small housing associations now (’Daisyhouse’ etc.) that appropriate individual houses in these so very central, areas. They may be following the way of London housing associations - who, in some central London areas, are operating this way. Also, in New York, - would buildings like these - maybe be ‘rent control’ ? - I don’t have the figures to hand, but at www.HUD.org (U.S.) website, the figures of ‘rent control’ in Manhattan are quite amazing. But that does not help the problem either; the ‘rent’ still goes to …… landlords.
The issue of a ‘Rent Book’ needs to be stressed more ? i.e. that someone has consistently paid rent; could this be considered a kind of credit? asset? I dunno. But instead of the poor considering it as ‘dead money’, it should maybe be approached as credible probity ?
http://www.saveourhomes.org/
http://www.prtb.ie/PubregisterJune2008/
One will have to go to Bolivarian Venezuela, even the families from the slums get new houses there
Seriously, the housing situation here is horrible. I don’t think I should go to charity while I keep on working in those corporations, now that would be ridiculous, wouldn’t it? Sharing, sure, but you will be tired of it after a while,especialy if you are not 20y anymore. And no, its not cheap either, with a deposit it can easily take halfofyour salary and then you are f..ed for the whole month :/
I was quite literally saved one evening by Seán Báite when he showed up with his brother and they bundled all my stuff into the back of a van
AT least it was within walking distance of Slatterys in Rathmines.
Not sure you were ’saved’ Conor - as we moved you into a room that was only slightly larger than a cupboard in a flat where you could never see the floor due to all of Valérie & Aoife’s crap all over it
I’ll pay for it later in Hell, I’m sure. Well I’m already paying with the slipped disk I got from shifting your homebrew equipment
Sad to see not much has changed in the 15 years since. Always remember that Finnish bloke I once ran into complaining about the standard of work done on grotty bedsits by Dublin landlords which he reckoned was about up to the standards of a ten year old.
Unfortunately, the rent calculations aren’t done by ten year olds.
LOOK at : www.PRTB.ie/pubregister.htm (on map, click on the area you may be concerned about).
Or, the long way round, : www.PRTB.ie , then in ‘Search’ facility, type in : Published Register : then that will bring you to the map of the Published Register of Private Residential Tenancies.
Hmmmm, quite ‘Newspeak’ that ? ‘Private’ AND ‘Tenancies’.
Maybe it is time a comedy (tragedy) series was made like ‘Father Ted’, called ‘Landlord Ted’.
The old Landlordism is now : Assetism.
For all that we, the Irish, moan (and in the past) about ‘dominion’ over our land/people; we sure are gung-ho to reap fruition/rent from our neighbour, and his children.
As, if we keep depending on 20 year economic ‘cycles’; many of these children will be caught in the dips and NEVRR own their own (decent) home.
Maybe a new ‘Seed’ Bank should be licensed. A bank targeted at 16 year olds and upwards. A bank that ONLY gives ONE MORTGAGE PER PERSON/COUPLE, per lifetime, (and this could be written into its Articles of Association), i.e. that does NOT give loans for second houses/holiday homes/buy-to-let properties (as, strictly speaking, especially the latter, are commercial loans).
At least it might help the poorer younger people to by-pass these awful (profit) places.
To be honest, I’d love if this sort of place was available abundantly and cheaply, so I’d at least have somewhere to start. Serious lack of opportunities these days if looking to rent somewhere. May not be able to take up an internship I’ve accepted up here.
Would prefer somewhere like this than to have to celebrate my 30th birthday under parental authority
And indeed better to have somewhere like this than be on the street.
They are, however, shit.
I am 53 years old and have worked for a living from the age of 9.
Due to the Irish tiger I like many others increased our pension funds
well that is all gone now thanks to the Goverment, yes im still working but now i am getting less than my brother in law who is on the dole since leaving school. I will be moving into one of these bedsits in the next few days for its all i can now bearley afford, yes they are death traps but who wants a 53 yearold to share with. Sometimes life kicks you in face, PS I work in a hospital, you know one of those public workers the goverment are giving out about earning to much, I work for 45 hours a week and get paid 800.79 a fortnight of which tax. prsi, pension are deducted this leaves me with a grand total of 498.23 to streach out for two weeks, no medical card, no bus pass, it costs me 38 euro a week transport costs, and 90 euro a week on medication, A bedsit is all I have left to go to.
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I’m literally in the middle of packing to move into a bedsit. A little bigger than the ones pictured, but definitely a bedsit and not a “studio”. I’m a bartender, struggling to get full time hours, and its really all I can afford at the moment.
I live in one now, I never thought it was bad until reading all of these comments and now I’m starting to curl up in shame. Only 5 more months of my masters left…only 5 more months…