AROUND THE BLOCKS

Built to rid City's worst tenements

- BY CIARA O'LOUGHLIN Political Correspondent

"IF I won the lottery, not only would I not leave, but I'd buy the entire block and my family would all live there".

Breda Sargent moved into Windmill Park in Crumlin, Dublin, in 1977 with her husband and five young children.

Crumlin remains the largest public housing development in the state's history.

Before moving into her home in Windmill Park, Ms Sargent and her family were living in a prefab in her father's land in Walkinstown.

Speaking to Sinn Fein TD Eoin O Broin in his new book Flats and Cottages, the mother-of-five said the house was "in a heap" when they first moved in, with water running down the stairs and holes in the windows and walls, but it was affordable and close to her family.

Almost 50 years later, Ms Sargent now lives alone in the home, as her husband passed away and her children have moved on.

But she wouldn't change it for the world, telling the politician that if she won the lotto she wouldn't leave, and would instead bring all her family back to live on the same street together.

At the heart of Flats and Cottages are the residents who currently live in the homes that saved thousands of people from Dublin's tenements.

What Mr O Broin discovered is that community is fiercely strong in these estates, with generations continuing to live there with a massive sense of pride.