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A TASKFORCE SET up by Simon Harris shortly after he became Taoiseach in April of this year has today published its report on improving life in Dublin.
Chaired by An Post CEO David McRedmond, the taskforce set out a range of recommendations to improve the capital city under 10 key “big move” areas including housing, policing, transport and marketing.
McRedmond acknowledged that most of the recommendations have previously been made to government but have either not yet been implemented or are “sub-scale”.
Harris said he hopes all political parties and independents will adopt the recommendations of the taskforce into their manifestos ahead of the next election.
In terms of funding the changes set out, the taskforce didn’t make any specific recommendations, it did however say that things like congestion charges or a tourism tax could be looked at.
However, speaking at the launch today, Harris said he was against the idea of a congestion charge but that a tourism tax “merits some consideration”.
Housing and Local Government Minister Darragh O’Brien on the other hand, said he is opposed to both taxes and does not believe now is the right time to increase costs associated with hospitality.
Here are ten of the recommendations that caught our eye:
1. Fund a minimum of 1,000 additional gardaí for Dublin city over the next three years
The report acknowledges that crime statistics do not show that Dublin is an outlier for crime among peer cities, but that this does not show “the full picture” and that anti-social behaviour falls “outside of crime definitions”.
The taskforce takes the view that more visible security in the city centre is “essential”.
It also recommends greater investment in youth diversion projects.
2. Set up a housing grant system for essential workers
The taskforce recommends that a grant system be established whereby public sector employers like the HSE, An Garda Síochána, schools and Dublin City Council receive additional funding to purchase or lease homes for their employees in the city centre.
3. Make O’Connell Street a place to live
The Taskforce said it shares Dublin City Council’s vision to make O’Connell Street “the physical and emotional heart of our city and State”.
To get to this point it recommends redeveloping the area to make it more mixed used.
Key to this is it said is State purchasing of vacant or derelict sites for redevelopment as high density, high quality housing on O’Connell Street and streets adjoining to it.
4. Increase drug treatment services
Among the taskforce’s recommendations is to develop mobile supervised drug consumption services as part of an agreed response to street-based drug use.
In its report, the taskforce said safety is a major concern for people in the city and that visible drug taking and dealing is contributing to this.
It noted that the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on drug use could significantly reduce antisocial behaviour in the city centre by shifting the focus from criminalisation to a health-led approach.
5. Review the location of the International Protection Office
The taskforce said consideration should be given to the relocation of International Protection Office processing facilities and that integrating it with healthcare services should also be considered.
It noted that Dublin is a primary entry point for many international protection applicants and that “concentration of vulnerable and transient cohorts risks social exclusion and exacerbation of social problems”.
6. Repurpose major carparks
The taskforce recommends that this should be done to facilitate “more pedestrian movement”.
It said they could be repurposed as cycle parking, logistic hubs or “other uses”.
7. Double the number of 24-hour bus routes
The taskforce recommends that a major increase in night-time transport is needed.
Along with doubling the number of 24-hour bus routes it also recommends incentivising more late-night taxis through higher late night fares.
8. A marketing team for the city
The taskforce wants to see the creation of a high-level marketing team to manage “the brand of Dublin”.
It said this is in response to the “deeply negative” narrative that has developed around Dublin, with social media “full” of misinformation about violence, hostility and heavy littering.
It said the marketing team would be responsible for communicating about things like events and cultural activities to essential services and infrastructural projects.
9. New laws about recording gardaí
It recommends that the government enact legislation to prohibit social media platforms from facilitating the circulation of videos, images or live streaming of members of the gardaí while they are working, without their consent.
10. Overhaul of waste collection
The taskforce recommends that all waste collection in the city be transferred to one single operator.
Although it said that an immediate return to public waste management would be “unfeasible”, moving to re-municipalisation of waste management on a phased basis should be “considered in the long term”.
If anyone believes this opens in 2035, I’ve got some magic beans to sell.
@James Groden: sounds like the FFG cartel are rushing this mega project through as their last hurrah before SF takes over.
Contracts were probably dished out already with usual connected parties like BAM & Co …
These public hearings are just for show …
Someone should remind the FFG crowd to add maximum project price cap on this one, recalling they “forgot” to do so with the National Children’s hospital that will probably cost over €3B …
@Jose mourinho: Or add penalty clauses so that any humongous underquotes to win a contract aren’t topped up with public money.
Just get it done. Of course there will be traffic problems during construction and noise pollution but nothing compared to what traffic congestion will be like in years to come if not done now.
@Sal Paradise: Traffic problems with dinghies?
You are funny :)
See
sealevel.climatecentral.org/
We are expecting 3 meter sea level rise by 2100 according the KNMI a couple of month ago (nos.nl/collectie/13871/artikel/2495205-onderzoek-antarctische-ijskap-blijft-ook-bij-streng-klimaatbeleid-smelten) based on
nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01818-x
Plus 1 meter due to the collapse of the AMOC as published some weeks ago:
theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/09/atlantic-ocean-circulation-nearing-devastating-tipping-point-study-finds
based on
science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adk1189
Best with your lilo.
wonder what will be fully completed and open first, the national childrens hospital or the metro
@Tom Newell: The colony on Mars.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: That’s not even at the planning stage yet, and it’s already over budget as you’d expect! Some of those consultant’s fees are astronomical…
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: 12 month in a gravity free place will cost 9% of brain mass.Some must have been on Mars twice ;)
See
sealevel.climatecentral.org/
We are expecting 3 meter sea level rise by 2100 according the KNMI a couple of month ago (nos.nl/collectie/13871/artikel/2495205-onderzoek-antarctische-ijskap-blijft-ook-bij-streng-klimaatbeleid-smelten) based on
nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01818-x
Plus 1 meter due to the collapse of the AMOC as published some weeks ago:
theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/09/atlantic-ocean-circulation-nearing-devastating-tipping-point-study-finds
based on
science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adk1189
Correction: It could be less brain damage, I hope … ;)
The Luas runs to the Point, the tunnel is around the corner, could they not run it through the tunnel in one lane and put it on stilts on exiting the tunnel to the airport.
Might save a few billion euro.
@Gerard Carey: MetroLink connecting to the airport is a fairly minor part of its whole benefit. There are many many more benefits from having rapidly growing commuter suburbs (Ballymun, Santry, Glasnevin, and parts of Finglas) and towns like Swords (and through park-and-ride plenty of areas north of Swords too) connected to a high frequency, high speed, high quality Metro that drops them to the city centre in less than half an hour.
If you run a Luas through the Port Tunnel, you face two huge problems — the first is where is the HGV traffic that used to use that tunnel going to go? The second is how wasteful it is that the route would pass under 5km of Northside suburbs with zero stations provided along the way.
It needs to be said as loudly as possible — MetroLink (and any other bit of transport infrastructure we build) is about making it way easier for people to find homes in Dublin they can live in and commute from, it’s not about helping tourists get from the airport.
@Gerard Carey: wasn’t even considered. Would make the capital spend too small for them
@Gerard Carey: Probably make more sense to build a super rail connection from Shannon Airport to Dublin. All the Dulchies could then move back to the sticks instead of commuting to their holiday homes west of the Shannon at the weekend
@Gerard Carey: Because the tunnel exit is still miles from the city center!
@Gerard Carey: building a tunnel in a sea town …. well …. see:
sealevel.climatecentral.org/
We are expecting 3 meter sea level rise by 2100 according the KNMI a couple of month ago (nos.nl/collectie/13871/artikel/2495205-onderzoek-antarctische-ijskap-blijft-ook-bij-streng-klimaatbeleid-smelten) based on
nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01818-x
Plus 1 meter due to the collapse of the AMOC as published some weeks ago:
theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/09/atlantic-ocean-circulation-nearing-devastating-tipping-point-study-finds
based on
science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adk1189
This is so strangely ignorant a comment by Callaghan, that I can only suspect ulterior motives.
This version of MetroLink will have city centre stations at O’Connell Street (Red Line connection), Tara Street (DART connection), and St Stephen’s Green (Green Line connection.
What does it matter that Charlemont is the terminus?
Is that supposed to confer some extra status that we shouldn’t confer?
When he says “Grand Parade is “constantly traffic jammed at all times of the day” which would make it “virtually inaccessible” for through traffic to collect people to drop them off” — does he think that a terminus in the city centre would be BETTER for this?
What is Callaghan *really* at here?
@Matthew: I’m not sure that €650M for 1Km tunnel to Charlemont is a priority. We need Luas lines to the West far more than we need a tunnel to Charlemont, that may be useful ‘when the Green Line is upgraded’ (I’ll tell my grandchildren to keep an eye out for that, I’ll certainly be long gone)
@Matthew: Obviously lobbying on behalf of constituents in his ear. Like all of the politicians who cry about the housing situation then protest against housing in their areas.
@Matthew: 100% agree. There are stations in the city centre before the terminus. His comments make no sense.
@Pintman Paddy Losty: Agree, it’s a strange diversion. But it wouldn’t be adding to city centre traffic so much as reducing it by laying on fast public transport. Maybe some group wants Charlemont to be the new Montrose bottleneck? I still say boost the Northside where they have room to expand and plenty of people interested in living there.
Any article relating to RTE is of public interest. Closing comments is concerning and depriving the public of discussing their public misdemeanours. Funny they still expect people to pay tv licence… its great to see everyone is standing firm by boycotting that tax.
A classic case of Nimbyism from O’Callaghan. Why shorten the track just to keep O’Callaghan happy with his symbolic terminus in city centre-there will be 3 city centre stops anyway on way to Charlemont. If cost cutting was at the heart of his argument for shortening the overall route (just to have the terminus at city centre) I would have a small bit more sympathy for him but it clearly isn’t- just good old fashioned Nimbyism.
The metro should stop in Connolly and Heuston besides the city centre, but this may be too common sense for the government. Imagine all the people coming from all corners of Ireland could take the train and metro. That alone would incentivise people not to drive and pay Carl park fees at Dublin Airport, not to mention tourism.
@J Ven: it stops at glasnevin where you can take dart west (which should be up and running way before metrolink) to connolly, 2 stops.
@eoin fitzpatrick: it also stops at O’Connell Street, about 10 minutes walk from Connolly, or a couple of stops on the Red Line. For Heuston, it’s the Red Line in the other direction there too.
Connecting Connolly AND Heuston is a matter for DART Interconnector/Underground or DART+ Tunnel as it is now called.
O Callaghan is the classic Irish politician, arguing over where stops should be, when this is going on since 2005. Lots of reports & people spouting sh about where this should or shouldn’t be & not a single rail of track laid 19 years later.
If it ever goes ahead, like the National Children’s Hospital it will take decades to open & probably end up being the most expensive Metrolink build in the world.i ok
The route and stops were finalised ages ago. Idiots like this TD are only trying to hold the project up now. I mean it’s bloody treasonous at this stage, leave the project alone and let it happen as is, it’s a good plan.
@eoin fitzpatrick: will Eoin be able to take his bike on it?
@You’re Not Serious: In Copenhagen they’re allowed to take bikes onto the Metro except between 7am and 10am. The system there is amazing and actually helps get cars off the road.
@Lilly Lalogue: if you can’t take them during those hours and we know why- you are effectively saying no you can’t take them either between 4-7pm either
@eoin fitzpatrick: “Idiot” is from the Greek language.It means greedy person.
I’d say it will cost about 3 trillion.
€650,000 for 1km of tunnel?
€650,000 for every meter?
We’d dig it with a shovel for far less that that.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Should have written €650 million (€650,000,000) for 1km of tunnel.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Had to have a quick look to see if I could find costs for similar tunnels. Turns out boring is actually quite interesting and their are lots of variables.
@Diarmuid Hunt: *there
@Diarmuid Hunt: Is BAM one of the variables?
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Maths not your strongest subject
@Diarmuid Hunt: We don’t need any informed options on here, thank you. Where would the art of conversation be, if we knew what we were talking about ?
FF not particularly well known for planning ahead.
The whole point of the MetroLink is to get you into the city centre /St. Stephens green.
Thereafter he’ll be calling for a second MetroLink to take you from Charlemont to get to the MetroLink in the city centre.
A terminus is NOT just like any other stop on the line – take a look at the Sandyford Luas stop. You need to be able to accommodate multiple sidings, for trains and that takes a lot of real estate. In fact the best place for this terminus is actually UCD
Good man Jim keep the northsiders on da northside!!
Metrolink looks like nonsense. It actually runs under the Luas Green line for 3-4 stops. Utter nonsense. It should connect with the Luas lines/Dart/connolly and Heuston but not mirror any of them.
@Fred Coloe: This is utter nonsense. Plenty of tube lines serve the same stations. The metrolink can only be a good thing as it’s replacing…. absolutely nothing. There’s nothing there now. Nothing but unreliable buses to the airport. It’s a joke
Certainty. It will not cost 650 Millions and will not be completed in 2035
And here we go. The NIMBYs getting their bit in right away. Yes everyone has a right to voice their concerns but the national interest has to be balanced against this. The fact that Ranelagh residents association managed to have the line go no further than Charlemont is a disgrace. There will be disruption but that’s what you are going to get with any major project. Suck it up.
I’m a bit confused. He wants it to stop in the city centre rather than pass through?
Well, I suppose he did get his name in the media……great job!
They’ll still be talking about this project in 5 years time.
Too posh on the southside, people from the northside just might travel into alien territory .
@Anne Collins: have you never made it to St Stephen Green?
Higglety, pigglety, mish mash, make it up as we go along.
‘They never planned for the future with ! How foolish can you be?’
‘They are planning ahead with this terminus. How dare they? Don’t they know that people live here? How foolish can you be?’
Yeah Jim. Lets discuss it again for another 20 years.
LOL
An almost useless people
Here the flood map, it was last updated in 2020 but is useful for showing the elevations.
sealevel.climatecentral.org/
We are expecting 3 meter sea level rise by 2100 according the KNMI a couple of month ago (nos.nl/collectie/13871/artikel/2495205-onderzoek-antarctische-ijskap-blijft-ook-bij-streng-klimaatbeleid-smelten) based on
nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01818-x
Plus 1 meter due to the collapse of the AMOC as published some weeks ago:
theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/09/atlantic-ocean-circulation-nearing-devastating-tipping-point-study-finds
based on
science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adk1189
Most of these railway lines and stations will be useless with only 1 meter sea level increase.
I like the idea to put water based structures on stilts.It won’t help the passengers but keeps their feet dry.
@Juri Hertel: True, and we also need to consider the hinterland that people are commuting from.
I grew up on the Southside where when the rivers rose over the roads, people drove via the mountains until the flooding went down. Since then, extra flood measures have been constructed to reduce that. Maybe we need a line routed via higher ground, and sooner rather than later?
@F Fitzgerald: This project must be cancelled.
The laws of physics aren’t up for a discussion.
All coastal cities must make plans to evacuate them, the sea level rise is unstoppable unless …but this isn’t seen.
gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/
Building a connecting traffic system must consider the foreseeable future at the connection points:the stations,the passenger and cargo stations,they will be flooded.The area around them will be flooded.No one comes by boat,mores it at a metro station and carries his bike or the pram up the stairs,drives a few miles and then carry his luggage down into the water.What for?
As long as war and exploitation aren’t stopped there is no chance of reducing the CO2 content in the atmosphere.
The 3 meter sea level rise by 2100 are a fixed fact,there is nothing that can be done about it.
But we can spare our civilisation from worse – if system change is accepted.
The evacuation must be done,new cities must be build higher above.Now.
Inadequate planning I’d say. The centre of Dublin in 2035 will be in Swords. Ranelagh will be redundant.
have your say