The landlord who has 16 tenants in a 3-bed house gets go-ahead to build in the garden
Women pay €445 a month for bunk in home like ‘Noah’s Ark’
A DUBLIN landlord who charges young female tenants up to €445 a month for a bunk bed in cramped conditions has been given permission to build another large structure in his garden.
Documentary-maker Eamon McElwee – who lists human rights, economic empowerment and poverty alleviation as the ‘causes he believes in’ on his LinkedIn page – houses 16 tenants in his three-bed Victorian home.
One neighbour said: ‘We’re watching a trail of young women leave and enter that house all day – the mind boggles how they all fit; it’s like Noah’s Ark.’
And he has been granted permission for a large, two-storey structure in the garden in Portobello after telling Dublin City Council he needed the space ‘for the growing McElwee family’.
However residents believe he is single and has no family. He bought the house with his mother more than a decade ago and she has since died. Local people fear he plans to take in more tenants.
One elderly neighbour said: ‘What we have here on our street is basically a hostel. Eamon is in a spot of bother now. They’re dreadful conditions for anyone to live in.’ The council confirmed this week it was investigating Mr McElwee, 51, for compliance with fire and safety regulations.
But last year they granted him permission to demolish a garage at the back and replace it with a two-storey, 61sq.m (660sq.ft) structure with bathroom facilities and opaque windows. According to the application: ‘Works will include the construction of a ground-floor space and first-floor home study to provide additional space for the growing McElwee family.’
The architect who prepared the application, Hendrik Henkel, told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘I’m shocked to learn all these people are living in the house, I had no idea of that. He told me he wanted more space to raise his family.’
A young female tenant living in his house confirmed this week that he also lived there, which means he is not breaching any tenancy rights as he is exempt from landlord-tenant legislation. She said she paid €445 a month for her bunk bed, visitors were forbidden and the curtains at the front had to be kept drawn at all times. Despite this, the young woman who was from overseas and declined to be named, said she liked living there.
‘It is expensive, yes, but all the girls here, we’re all in the same boat and we all get on very well. Eamon told us not to talk to anyone about it though.’
A former tenant confirmed there were 16 tenants sharing eight bunk beds plus the homeowner. The young Brazilian woman, said she was ‘really desperate’ at the time.
She said she was given notice to leave when she asked the landlord to buy a frying pan.
Mr McElwee is listed as a director of two companies, Global Media Finance and Gallowglass Pictures.
Despite repeated attempts, he could not be contacted this week for comment.
‘He told me he wanted space for his family’