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AN INCREASED GARDA presence to deal with “aggressive and organised begging” is one of several recommendations to help improve trading for Dublin’s food-service businesses.
A report prepared for Dublin City Council, which was presented to councillors on Monday, found begging to be a “significant” issue highlighted by the café and restaurant sector.
It added that the persistence of beggars on Dublin streets posed a “major threat” to the comfort and security of customers using outdoor seating.
The report suggested “increased garda presence acts as a deterrent to anti-social behaviour, petty crime and aggressive and organised begging”.
Fianna Fáil councillor Paul McAuliffe, who oversaw the report, said begging was a common issue raised by those from the café and restaurant sector.
Organisations that participated in the consultation included representatives from the Restaurants Association Ireland, the Temple Bar Company, Dublin Town and Fáilte Ireland.
The recommendations were also based on feedback from Dublin cafés and restaurants such as The Bakehouse, Queen of Tarts, Fumbally Café, Woodstock Café, Boxty House and Lovely Food Company.
Recommendations
The report on the café and restaurants sector was produced to help identify issues holding back the sector from playing an increased role in the economic life of the city.
Dublin Town chief executive Richard Guiney said cafés and restaurants are an “important pillar” of encouraging people to shop in the city centre.
He added that cafés staying open longer into the evening would also foster more evening shopping and help Dublin shops to combat the threat of online retailers.
Some other recommendations from the report included:
McAuliffe said the strict planning requirements for tables and chairs outside cafés, set by national legislation, was commonly noted as a big issue by businesses in the sector.
“If you want to put out four chairs and a table you have to go through a process that is equivalent to planning permission, but you can build a 400 sq ft extension on the back of your house and be exempt from planning.
“The national legislation doesn’t allow us to have that flexibility to have chairs and tables outside on streets in Dublin. The fact that tables and chairs on a city street are regulated by national legislation is preposterous.
“The report recommends there should be a change in national legislation. I know we have a centralised governance system in Ireland, but really, should national legislation be regulating tables and chairs in a city, it’s crazy.”
The report will be considered again at a Dublin City Council meeting in April and, if approved, the recommendations for the café and restaurant sector will be included in the 2017 Action Plan of the Dublin City Local Economic and Community Plan.
Written by Killian Woods and posted on Fora.ie
Wooohooooo. I’m trying to get the cash together to service my 03 car so it can pass the NCT.
Put it in without going to a mechanic, it could pass. Even if it fails, you’ll have a sheet of issues to resolve. Much more cost effective this way.
Thanks for the tip :-)
I never understand why you would buy a new car
Luxury? Knowing you’re the only person who has ever owned it and that nothing will be wrong?
So buy it once and then you’ll understand.
Thanks for clearing that up
I wonder how many people drove to anti water charges demos in a new car, with 95,000 being sold it must be a few hundred, or even a few thousand. A mid sized family car starts at €30,000, and a lot more if you go for a decent specification, that would buy a lifetime of water for a family.
Can we have a free cars demo next?
Donaill, “……and that nothing will be wrong…….”. What a lovely idea. That and the Tooth Fairy. Presumably you are a car dealer. Better wait a year and have the initial warranty stuff sorted, as well as benefitting from the depreciation.
However, someone had better keep on buying new or the nearly-new market will dry up.
Go to England and get a higher spec for cheaper.
Great news. I’ll be looking to buy one of these cars for a fraction of the current price in about three years time!
More proof for the naysayers that FG are turning this country around. What will the shinnerbots say now?
Sure It’s all the Fg cronies packed on the boards of quangos that’s buying them
Surely Ed, you can come up with a better one than that.
Well said James. Its easy to be against everything. Its a typical SF/IRA response to jump on the populist bandwagon. People like ed have no concept of the real world. Next they will be blaming FG for the bad weather.
In fairness things are improving around the country.
If they were bad we would blame the government.
So in turn if it gets better they should get some credit.
And NO I’m not a FG or FF voter!
Nope fraid not. no joking on this site yesterday then
cant understand why everybody doesnt buy a new car sure you could get a car worth 10,000 for only 20,000 when you add on the vat, excise duty and vrt.
This sounds like a feel good loaded article! Maybe there isn’t enough €500 cars to go around now!
Commercial vehicles sales, up good to hear.
Irish water fleet
Recession my arse…
We should Put up road tax instead of water charges
Yea cause it worked really well the last time…..not!
people can afford 30-40K new audi… they can afford to pay bit more road tax
Tax goes on engine size and emissions.
So your argument is a little on the stupid side
Thomas, are you taking the piss? 5% of your already overpriced motor tax currently goes to cover water charges.
There really is no point working in this country anymore.
bring in the luxury car tax instead of water charges
Modern expensive cars so technically advanced and have such low emissions now that the emissions based tax system doesn’t work not fair. So it should be based more on co2 emission based on manufacture. Larger more elaborate car’s are more polluting to manufacture so luxury car tax system is only fair
There’s already very heavy taxes on new cars Thomas.
The most polluting car to manufacture is a Nissan Leaf electric car because mining the hundreds of tons of material from which the hundreds of kilos of toxic heavy metals contained in the batteries is a very dirty polluting process. And then the poisonous batteries have to be disposed of when the electric car is scrapped.
in fairness motor tax is just another unfair tax on the poor. if you cant afford a new car then you have to pay exorbitant tax based on the size of your engine
Give the poor free cars I say Gerry! Anything else?
no f.g reg just have the same emmissions based tax on all cars regardless of age. its just about fairness, wouldn’t expect a f.g apologist to understand that though.
will never buy a new car, hope all those idiots enjoyed paying VRT on their new motors
have your say