Dublin city councillors have warned the success of the Dublin City Taskforce recommendations will depend on the Government making a formal commitment to a €1 billion primary investment, with ongoing costs in the region of €150 million a year.
At a special meeting on Monday night to discuss the report of the taskforce, which was published last month, councillors also said the implementation of the recommendations must be led by the Dublin City Council.
The report makes a series of recommendations, or “big moves”, that are aimed at encouraging more people to live and socialise in the city centre, making it a safer place for visitors and residents and improving the quality of life for those that live there.
Dublin City Council chief executive Richard Shakespeare told the council meeting he did not expect any firm commitments on funding until the incoming government is in place.
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Opening the debate, councillor Ray McAdam (Fine Gael) said it was “important that we start a conversation with our own staff and the CEO or key personnel involved in the city centre about their input into the report“.
He instanced, by way of example, the feasibility of “a Limerick 2030-style initiative to help fund the conversion of derelict sites for city-centre living”. He also mentioned efforts to make the city free from illegal dumping and to establish whether the city should take over the waste collection service and run it as it did in the past.
Cllr Cian Farrell (Social Democrats) said the plan “provides an opportunity to negotiate an equitable and sustainable funding agreement for Dublin, not just on this implementation this plan, but a permanent, long term funding for the city”.
Cllr Janice Boylan (Sinn Féin) asked whether the money was “100 per cent going to be funded through Government”. She accused previous governments of “allowing the city centre and Dublin to become rundown, unsafe, and that is very, very clear in this report”.
Cllr Janet Horner (Green Party) said “the city council has to be the leader on this, we cannot implement another top-down structure to decide what is best for Dubliners.”
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