The Iveagh Trust is a provider of

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on affo ...

in and around

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It was initially a component of the

Guinness Trust The Guinness Partnership is one of the largest providers of affordable housing and care in England. Founded as a charitable trust in 1890, it is now a Community Benefit Society with eight members. Bloomberg classify it as a real estate owner a ...

, founded in 1890 by

Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, (10 November 1847 – 7 October 1927) was an Irish businessman and philanthropist. A member of the prominent Anglo-Irish Guinness family, he was the head of the family's eponymous brewing business, ma ...

, great-grandson of the founder of the

Guinness Brewery St. James's Gate Brewery is a brewery founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland, by Arthur Guinness. The company is now a part of Diageo, a company formed from the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997. The main product of the brewery is ...

, to help homeless people in Dublin and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. It is not otherwise related to the brewery company.

Guinness Partnership

The

extended its objectives outside London in 1962 and today operates in all parts of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

as a member of the Guinness Partnership, a group of

housing association In Ireland and the United Kingdom, housing associations are private, Non-profit organization, non-profit making organisations that provide low-cost "Public housing in the United Kingdom, social housing" for people in need of a home. Any budge ...

s. However, the Iveagh Trust became a separate organisation in 1903 with responsibility for activities in Ireland. It was given a statutory legal basis by the "Dublin Improvement (Bull Alley Area) Act" of 1903.Iveagh Hostel still trusts its century-old founding ethos

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

, April 23 2008 Today it is run as a charity under Irish law and liaises with such bodies as

Dublin City Council Dublin City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Bhaile Átha Cliath) is the authority responsible for local government in the city of Dublin in Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Until 2001, the council wa ...

and the Homeless Agency.

Current

In today's central Dublin several original buildings in the area of St Patrick's Cathedral,

Patrick Street Patrick Street is an Irish folk group founded by Kevin Burke (formerly of The Bothy Band) on fiddle, Andy Irvine (Sweeney's Men, Planxty) on mandolin, bouzouki, harmonica and vocals, Jackie Daly (De Dannan) on button accordion, and Arty McGl ...

and Christ Church Cathedral are still managed. Following a report by

John Lumsden Sir John Lumsden KBE (14 November 1869 – 3 September 1944) was an Irish physician. He was famous for his role as Chief Medical Officer of Guinness Brewery, during which time he founded both St James's Gate F.C. and the St John Ambulance Bri ...

, they were built between 1896 and 1945 by the Iveagh Trust, including formerly the Iveagh Public Baths and the

Iveagh Market The Iveagh Markets is a former indoor market built in the Edwardian architectural style on Francis Street and John Dillon Street in The Liberties neighbourhood of Dublin, Ireland, that was open from 1906 until the 1990s. As of 2020, the site r ...

building on Francis Street. Lord Iveagh also made donations to St Patrick's Cathedral and created the St Patrick's Park gardens in 1901 between the cathedral and the Iveagh Trust buildings. Today's buildings were therefore only a part of a larger

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

plan, at a time when Dublin was infamous for its poverty and its unsanitary tenements. In more recent times new properties have been acquired in Leopardstown, Cork Street Dublin 8,

Swords A sword is a cutting and/or thrusting weapon. Sword, Swords, or The Sword may also refer to: Places * Swords, Dublin, a large suburban town in the Irish capital * Swords, Georgia, a community in the United States * Sword Beach, code name for ...

and

Clongriffin Clongriffin ( ga, Cluain Ghrífín) is a community in northern Donaghmede,Dublin: Dublin City Council, Minutes of full Meeting of Council, April 2009, Q. 36 - City Manager's answer. on the northern fringe of Dublin, Ireland. The settlement w ...

, and a home for the elderly at Mount Anthony in south Dublin. Unlike Dublin City Council's housing list based on need, the trust has aimed to create mixed communities with smaller numbers. Each estate has a resident caretaker and a formal system of elected tenants' councils to advise of complaints or problems. The CEO of The Iveagh Trust is Aidan Culhane. The Trust also runs the Iveagh Hostel in central Dublin for homeless men, providing basic accommodation, meals and such facilities as a gym and an internet access room. The original 508 cubicles have been converted to 195 bedrooms. Former residents include

Liam O'Flaherty Liam O'Flaherty ( ; 28 August 1896 – 7 September 1984) was an Irish novelist and short-story writer, and one of the foremost socialist writers in the first part of the 20th century, writing about the common people's experience and from their ...

after leaving the army in 1917, and

Patrick Kavanagh Patrick Kavanagh (21 October 1904 – 30 November 1967) was an Irish poet and novelist. His best-known works include the novel '' Tarry Flynn'', and the poems "On Raglan Road" and "The Great Hunger". He is known for his accounts of Irish life t ...

. A former trust building for children to play in, known as "The Bayno", was closed in 1975, and now houses the

Liberties College Liberties College is an educational institution in Bull Alley Street, Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It offers further education courses, including Post Leaving Certificate courses. The college is housed in an Edwardian architecture, Edwardian buil ...

. Flat 3B on the Bull Alley Estate is the only flat in The Iveagh Trust stock which has remained largely unchanged since the first tenants took up occupancy in 1904. Following the death of the last tenant, Nellie Molloy, in 2002, Trustees decided that the flat should remain a museum – a visual reminder of flat design and of how families lived in the early days of The Iveagh Trust. Miranda, Lady Iveagh, donated the funds to purchase the content of the flat from Nellie’s family to enable this to happen. The Museum Flat is available for viewing by appointment.

Guinness Partnership

Current

References

Further reading