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PHOTOCALL IRELAND

Frank Feely, the Dublin City Manager who 'ran' the capital for 17 years, has died

Feely is best remembered for his role in the 1988 Dublin Millennium celebration.

FRANK FEELY, WHO served as Dublin City Manager from 1979 until 1996, has died at the age of 93.

During his time in charge of Dublin County and City Council and later Dublin City Council (formerly known as Dublin Corporation), Feely oversaw several important milestones in the capital over the course of his career, including the visit of US President Bill Clinton 1996. 

He is credited with leading the programme to drastically reduce Dublin’s 10,000-strong housing list during the eighties, the pedestrianisation of Grafton St, and is perhaps best-known for the 1988 Millennium campaign. 

The campaign, while historically dubious, proposed to celebrate one thousand of years of Dublin city, and generate economic activity and increased cultural engagement in the capital.

The yearlong celebration was marked by half-price fares on the DART, commemorative events, new public spaces, street art, and music, during a time when Ireland’s economic fortunes were a cause of great concern. 

A centre-piece of the celebrations was the Dublin Street Carnival, a July parade which featured over 200 performers in full costume, led by the New Jersey Emerald Pipe Band.

Feely also oversaw the establishment of the large civic office building on Wood Quay. The development was controversial due to archaeologically significant discoveries made at the site, and the High Court initially ruled that the site was a national monument. 

Asked by RTÉ about the building, Feely said: “I don’t feel proud of it, I don’t feel ashamed of it”.

Contemporary reporting refers to the larger-than-life nature of Feely’s character, with one report in the Sunday Press offering the description that Feely “bestrides the city like a colossus”, while a 1996 report in the Irish Times reads: “If anyone could be said to have ‘run’ Dublin over the past 16 years, it is Frank Feely.”

News of Feely’s death was confirmed in a statement issued by Dublin City Council on Monday afternoon. 

The statement reads: “Mr Feely was the Dublin City and County Manager from 1979 to 1993 and then Dublin City Manager from 1993 until his retirement in 1996. Mr Feely joined Dublin Corporation as a clerk in 1949. He was a committed public servant, who made a significant contribution to the life of Dublin city and its citizens during a long career.”

Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy paid her respects to Feely in her own statement, saying: “As Lord Mayor, I wish to offer both my own and Dublin City Council’s condolences to his family and friends. Frank was a hardworking and dedicated employee of Dublin City Council.

“My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this time. May he rest in peace. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam”.

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    Mute Garreth Byrne
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 2:27 PM

    The young prime minister Gabriel Attal has recognized the genuine grievances of French farmers, shared by farmers in several European countries. Too much unnecessary red tape (bureaucrats trying to intensify their power by imposing increased paperwork); too much blaming food producers for pollution; too much money required to stay in farming. In Brussels, Paris and Berlin there are 5-day civil servants; but there’s no such thing as a 5-day farmer.

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    Mute P. V. Aglue
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 4:36 PM

    @Garreth Byrne: all that red tape creates lots of civil service jobs,and their unsackable.

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    Mute brendan C5
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 5:00 PM

    @jak: to keep your food and drink cheaper than it would be.

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    Mute William Tallon
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 2:33 PM

    You sometimes get the distinct impression that some of Europe’s political elites really don’t have a clue about where the food they eat comes from and that real people called farmers work hard to make their livings producing and providing it. “Farmers, you say? Aren’t they the happy workers from the factories where they make the food that my staff purchase from those supermarket places?”

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    Mute Adrian Kehoe
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 3:31 PM

    @William Tallon: That’s true, I know nothing about farming but I certainly have great respect for the work they do, hours they put in for little gain .

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    Mute Elizabeth Doyle
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 2:06 PM

    CANT BEAT Le Bleu farmers.Hope we fare better tonight.As a Munster supporter I want Pete to have a good beginning to 6 Nations Campaign.Without our Irish Farmers we gave no Country,the backbone of our Nation and prosperity.

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    Mute Padraig O'Brien
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 2:24 PM

    No farmers no food is a myth in Ireland. Lots of our food is imported and lots of our meat is exported.

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    Mute Staker Wallace
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 2:45 PM

    @Padraig O’Brien: Ok, If there was no farmers in the *whole world*, what would you live on? Furze bushes?

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    Mute James Carolan
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 3:09 PM

    France 12 – 18 Ireland COYBIG

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    Mute Eoghan O Sullivan
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 3:22 PM

    Are if there were no car makers there wouldn’t be cars etc.. We have produce food sustainably. Seen the iFA fella on prime time last night tyring to defend excessive use of nitrates. Time is now.

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    Mute hi from heaven
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 5:51 PM

    All I hear is farmers complaining they work hard and make no money…
    I heard a good saying today” you don’t have to be smart to be a farmer, but don’t be stupid ”
    Give up the farm if it is not viable, there’s plenty of jobs out there..
    The farmers that really work hard and put in 10 plus hours a day are making money, because these are dairy farmers..there is no need for 95% of beef farmers to be home all day collecting subsidies and complaining about how it’s not enough..get a job

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