We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
AS RENTS AND house prices continue to rise in Dublin City, the lack of housing supply continues to make an impact.
It is now time that we made better use of under used lands close to the city centre. That is why the Green Party is proposing that we regenerate lands at Broadstone in Phibsborough and Cathal Brugha Barracks in Rathmines.
Both sites are located within walking distance of centre Dublin and could provide land for thousands of decent homes for those most in need.
Cities must adapt or die
Cities must adapt or die if they don’t meet the needs of the people they serve.
Twenty years ago an ambitious master plan was approved for the Dublin Docklands. This led to thousands of homes and jobs being provided in an area of the city that was scarred by dereliction. We now need to look at other under-used State-owned lands and consider the development of similar sites elsewhere in the city.
These range from railyards to car parks, but these two sites controlled by the State could provide thousands of new homes. Not only would development be located within walking distance of schools, shops, pubs and churches, the sites also have the potential to provide sports, recreation and jobs for the wider community.
The Broadstone site, just south of Phibsborough is oozing with potential. The old railway station, closed to passenger traffic in the 1930s, and now serves as the headquarters of Bus Éireann. The surrounding lands are used for bus maintenance and parking.
Regenerating the south Phibsborough area
The station terminus was designed by John Skipton Mulvany and opened in 1850. The late architectural historian Maurice Craig said it is:
the last building in Dublin to partake of the sublime. It stands on rising ground, and the traveller who sees it for the first time, so unexpected in its massive amplitude, feels a little as he might if he were to stumble unawares upon the monstrous silences
of Karnak or Luxor… Much of the poetry of travel perished when the Broadstone was abandoned.
Both the building itself and the wonderful granite colonnade alongside could underpin the regeneration of this part of the city. With not one, but two newly opened Luas stations on the Green line, and the new DIT campus at Grangegorman alongside they are well placed for revitalisation.
It is now time that Minister Ross took an interest in the area’s regeneration, and moved bus depots such as these out to beside the M50 where they can better serve their staff, and customers.
Currently in the early morning bus drivers travel into town by car in order to drive buses out of town to suburban terminuses for the first bus of the day. It would be far better if such bus depots were moved out of city centre locations.
The Harristown Bus Depot near Dublin Airport shows how this can be achieved. In my day job lecturing at the Dublin Institute of Technology my students in Urban Regeneration showed that sites like these could provide new homes and spearhead the redevelopment of such areas.
Cathal Brugha Barracks
Cathal Brugha Barracks in Rathmines could also contribute towards tackling the housing crisis. Many of the buildings are in poor condition, and the site needs investment regardless of whether the defence forces stay on site or move. The question has to be asked though: do we need to have two military barracks in Dublin?
This could be an opportunity to move our soldiers and staff to the Curragh, and upgrade facilities there. This would then release a magnificent sixteen hectare (forty acre) site close to the city centre.
It also could house thousands of new residents and provide sports fields, parks and playgrounds in this part of the city. Clancy Barracks in Islandbridge set a precedent, and now houses hundreds of city residents in a well-designed environment on the south
side of the River Liffey.
Quality homes that would integrate people
Both Broadstone and Cathal Brugha Barracks could spearhead the government’s plans for new housing. Indeed they could act as a showpiece for a ‘cost-rental’ model of development that would provide quality homes that would integrate people on different incomes.
Instead of the segregated housing policies that we’ve had up to now this could provide quality housing for people from all walks of life. This could be an amazing opportunity to provide inclusive housing for all: from young families to empty nesters.
Master Plans should be developed for both of these sites, and a Regeneration Authority such as the Grangegorman Development Agency could be repurposed to guide their redevelopment.
Last week a Green Party motion before the Dáil proposed the redevelopment of the sites. With backing from Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, Labour and others, the motion passed. Now, it’s up to the government to take this vision on board, and start delivering high quality, affordable housing solutions.
Ciaran Cuffe is a Green Party Dublin City Councillor and runsa an MSc in Urban Regeneration at the Dublin Institute of Technology.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
What a nightmare. The poor people! RIP.
Been on cable cars, always uneasy on them. Hope the survivor can get over their experience.
@willow moon: awful. Maybe because he’s so young, he has a chance of having a normal life.
@willow moon: The “survivor” lost his brother, his parents and his grandparents in the accident
Someone needs to proofread these articles – the Judge in fact stated that there was insufficient evidence that the company owner or maintenance chief knew that the technician had disabled the emergency brake on previous occasions. The opposite is stated above.
Last paragraph, of course he wouldn’t have. What a cop out and no excuse.
There are only three reason, in our system, to hold people in custody before trial: a) risk of running away, b) risk of tampering evidence, c) risk of keep perpetrating the crime
The judge, simply, didn;t find evidence of any of those three reason. Nobody says they’re innocent.
Of course, now they’ll start blaming each other, but that was easily predictable.
Either way, it’s a shame al along.
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say