Even by the low standards set for such things, the report of the Dublin City Taskforce feels like a halfhearted effort at best. But simply dismissing it as old wine in a new bottle – as many have done – is to to misunderstand the purpose of the taskforce.
The brainchild of the newly-minted Taoiseach Simon Harris, it was established in May with a brief to come up with plan to make “Dublin city centre a more thriving, attractive and safe cityscape; and a desirable location to live, work, do business and visit.”
It was taken as a given that Dublin city centre was none of these things although you might have thought that testing this assertion would be a good place to start.
The reason this was deemed unnecessary is because the taskforce is a creature of the unquestioned narrative that has prevailed in politics and the media since the riot in Dublin city centre last November. It is a narrative energetically promulgated by Harris, who promised to set up a taskforce to tackle violence in the city centre, even though the evidence propelling this vision of Dublin city centre as some sort of urban hellscape is almost entirely anecdotal.
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The taskforce’s true purpose is to allow the Government say it has tackled a problem that exists primarily in its own head – the idea that our once-proud capital has been turned into a no-go area for decent people.
In this regard, the timing of its report, just weeks in advance of the general election, is fortuitous, to put it mildly.
No less than seven politicians attached themselves to the press release accompanying the report. They included the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste Michael Martin, the Green Party leader and Equality Minister Roderic O’Gorman, the Lord Mayor of Dublin James Geoghegan, the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, the Minster for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe and the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien.
Given that the whole enterprise was premised on a dystopian vision peddled by politicians for their own ends we should not be too surprised that the report solutions are equally fantastical.
The taskforce’s backstory meant it was only to be expected that its standout recommendation is the deployment of 1,000 additional gardaí in the centre of the city.
[ Una Mullally: Hard not to greet the Dublin City Taskforce report with cynicismOpens in new window ]
The questions as to where these guards will come from is left open. Last month, the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris told the Policing Authority that the total strength of An Garda Síochána was 14,064 members at the end of July. That was 35 lower than at the end of June and speaks to the difficulty the force faces in finding recruits.
Finding another 1,000 guards will not be easy and deploying them in Dublin’s city centre to make people “feel” safer is of dubious value. It is important to note in this regard that the taskforce report is careful to say that Dublin “feels” less safe than it used to rather than Dublin is less safe. The reason, of course, is that such an assertion is not supported in any meaningful way by crime statistics.
Another perception the taskforce is keen to address is that the city centre is overrun by addicts and asylum seekers. It euphemistically refers to “ensuring emergency accommodation and processing facilities are more equitably spread” and the need to “reduce street-based, poly-drug use through enhanced services”. This translates as get the junkies and asylum seekers off the streets.
Again, perception would appear to trump reality. No one really knows how many active intravenous drug users there are in Dublin. Estimates range from 400 to 3,000. What is known is that services for addicts are heavily concentrated in the city centre, with their clients often required to travel into the centre to avail of their services.
The reason for this is that residents in the suburbs don’t want them in their neighbourhoods. That is not going to change unless the same politicians who are so keen to get them out of the city centre are going to welcome methadone clinics in their own constituencies, which seems unlikely. Likewise for housing and processing centres for asylum seekers. As with the extra 1,000 gardaí these solutions are in the realm of magical thinking.
Many of the other recommendations are perfectly sensible and are already on the agenda of Dublin City Council, the National Transport Authority and other bodies. Perhaps the most sensible of them all is the prioritisation of the regeneration of social housing complexes in the city centre. Measures like this would go some way to addressing the social deprivation that was one of the factors behind last November’s riots.
The trouble is that they all cost money. The taskforce’s remit did not include funding its plans, which they put at about €1 billion in capital spending and up to €150 million a year in running costs. They do suggest a couple of possible sources of funding, including a tourist tax, congestion charges and increased vacant property levies. Again, these are all good ideas but political non-starters for one reason or another.
The report is to be sent to an interdepartmental group on the eve of an election. This sounds rather like a humane killing. The taskforce has served its purpose.
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