Sir, – The “central Dublin” David McWilliams describes, apparently empty, “like the set of a post-apocalyptic film” and ripe for a population boost, is a problematic one in that it does not consider the existence of the communities that already live here and can be expected to be a world apart from the views held by these communities (“Dublin’s O’Connell Street has just one resident left. What the area lacks most is not gardaí, it is people”, Opinion, October 19th).
The delivery of a view on a single geographic element of the inner city without context and without offering any meaningful solution – the dilution of a “deprived” community with new people – is not a genuine solution and only serves to problematise the population that live there.
It does a disservice to other areas of “central Dublin” which thereby receive less media attention, and consequently, less political attention and fewer resources.
This is evident when reviewing the Dublin City Council Allocation by Electoral Division 2022-2026 Capital Budget for Sports and Leisure, Parks and Open Spaces, Libraries and Galleries figures, which show €137,326,629 or 46.25 per cent of total budget spent in the north inner city, compared to €1,630,000 or 0.55 per cent of total budget spent in the southwest inner city.
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These are the key budget areas which can be considered to enhance the likelihood of a community being happy and well- not additional policing or population – and a huge differential in spend between different electoral districts indicates a politicisation of decision making processes that does not bode well for a thriving inner city.
Our leading journalists should be aware of the role they play in directing political attention and would do well to seek to understand the true causes of deprivation – resourcing and policy decisions made by duty-bearing agencies – in addition to the scope of the geographies they are reporting on before offering solutions for the improvement of our inner city.
I would be delighted to invite David McWilliams to visit the Liberties area of the southwest inner city, the most densely populated area of the city, as a first step on this journey. – Yours, etc,
AUSTIN CAMPBELL
CEO,
The Liberties Community Project,
Dublin 8.