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Tonight: Deirdre Kelly Memorial Forum 2024

Updated: Mar 19

Ranelagh Arts presents the Deirdre Kelly Memorial Forum 2024

‘How to Empower Our Communities and Own Our Homes’

Title of Talk: Cost Purchase Housing



Tickets available on the door






When: Tonight 19th March 2024, 6.30pm sharp

Where: The Stella Cinema in the Devlin Hotel, 117-119 Ranelagh, Dublin 6


Agenda:

Welcome: Emer O’Siochru, EOS Future Design and Board Member Ranelagh Arts Clg

Facilitator: Judy Osborne, Planning Consultant


3 Speakers outline 3 levels of delivery

  • Alex Pigot: ‘Cost Purchase Housing’

  • Padraig Flynn: ‘Community-Led Land Trusts’

  • Robin Mandal: ‘Planning for Empowering Community’




Speaker 1: Alex Pigot

Alex Pigot set up and runs his own business Tico Mail Works (ticomailworks.ie) employing circa 40 people since its foundation in 1985. Alex lives in North Wicklow where his family manages a small organic farm. Until 2024 he ran Addressing the Unaddressed ( ATU) (addressingtheunaddressed.org) a charity in Kolkata, India that he set up with his wife Tina Roche in 2012. ATU is an Irish NGO created

to provide postal addressing to the underserved areas of Kolkata. Over the years, ATU has provided some 200,000 homes in slums and bustees in Kolkata with addresses that have transformed their residents’ lives. In recent years, Alex has broadened his research interests to housing, universal basic income, and carbon taxes.

Title of Talk: Community Led Housing


Speaker 2: Colin McDonnell

Colin McDonnell qualified in Architectural Design at UCD and is accredited for Building Conservation Grade III. He co-founded the action research collaborative Self-Organised Architecture (SOA.ie) with five architects/urban designers in 2018. SOA is not-for-profit promoting participatory, non-

speculative, affordable and democratic housing in Ireland. The collaborative works with groups,

government agencies and local authorities nationwide using a community-led approach to housing with focus on quality and social cohesion. Colin has co-designed a range of SOA initiatives and is

currently co-directing the Upcycling Trust (Upcycling Trust), a pilot project with Cork Community

Land Trust and Cork City Council. The Upcycling Trust has recently been awarded EU Interreg

‘Sustainable Housing for Inclusive and Cohesive Cities.

Title of Talk: Empowering Communities



Speaker 3: Robin Mandal

Robin Mandal is an award-winning architect and former-President of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI). Before retiring from active practice, he co-founded the Dublin Democratic Planning Alliance (DDPA.ie) with Marion Cashman, a voluntary alliance of 72+

neighbourhood associations that champions citizen and community participation in the planning of new neighbourhoods in Dublin. The housing crisis impelled many

government policy changes but none so far have delivered a sustainable solution; - Dublin remains a hostile environment for homebuyers and renters. The DDPA campaigns for a return to democratic procedures, the legal norm elsewhere in Europe, that requires;-

  • re-activation of the Development Plan

  • affordable rental and purchase housing meeting local area needs

  • quality rather than profit-driven housing

  • liveable neighbourhoods that also addresses climate change and biodiversity loss


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