Drama on Newstalk recently broadcast “HIGH DENSITY”, my comedy-drama about the housing crisis that explores the tensions that arise in a community when one resident in a small cul-de-sac refuses to sell her home to a developer who wants to build apartments on the site.
HIGH DENSITY” is told partly from the perspective of Councilor Benny Kelly, a shifty local representative who is in cahoots with the developer. He also writes an anonymous weekly newspaper column called The Secret Councilor, a juggling act that enables him both to comment on, and drive events.
Deirdre Finnegan is the only resident in a crescent of cottages who is holding out against a developer. The developer is offering the owners 150,000 Euro plus one of the new apartments – but only if all eight cottage owners agree to sell their sites. As a member of the local residents’ association Deirdre clashes with the reactionary Mick Delaney, who is keen to take the inducement.
With other committee members divided on which outcome would be best for the area, the stakes are raised when Emma Johnson, a journalist who is also on the committee, writes an inflammatory article for her paper.
With past resentments and betrayals coming to the surface, the conflicts go beyond housing, and battle lines are drawn. But just when it seems that matters might be resolved, a dramatic intervention takes place, with the outcome twisting in a direction that none of the participants expected.
Brian Gallagher 