Fatima Mansions

Fatima Mansions was built in 1949 and was seen as part of the great solution to inner city tenement living. It is located beside the Grand Canal in Rialto in Dublin’s southwest inner City . Over time, poverty, exclusion and the drugs scourge changed all that. In the 1980s the heroin epidemic which first swept through Dublin took root in Fatima feeding on and exacerbating chronic social conditions. In response Dublin City Council carried out an extensive refurbishment project. Initially this was positive but recession cutbacks in various Government Departments and limited social investment resulted in Fatima returning to decline.

In the mid 1990s the situation was at an all-time low and most residents wanted out. Drugs were openly sold – users/pushers travelled from across the city to buy and sell in the complex – some said it was “like a supermarket”. If your address was Fatima Mansions your chances of getting a job were almost zero and your chances of getting an education were not much better.

It was against this backdrop that in 1995 Fatima Groups United was established and subsequently became the representative body for residents and community groups. In September 1998 President Mary McAleese visited Fatima for the first time to launch a report called Making Fatima a Better Place to Live. This report was part of National Research carried out by ESRI into Social Housing. The report recommended a radical approach to resolving the many complex social and economic problems on the Fatima estate. It called for State intervention and stressed the importance of building the community’s capacity and having a bottom up approach.

In 2001 funding was secured for a Family Resource Centre and a Manager and Administrator were employed. A Community Development Worker joined in 2007, completing the co-ordination team. The FRC gave the community a solid foundation, enabling them to become the driving force behind the regeneration project. The work of the co-ordination team includes overseeing and supporting our core projects and services. The FRC team works with DCC and other state bodies on community safety, economic development and networking at local, regional and national level on matters related to the work.