Dublin City Council seeks €114 million for 'city rejuvenation' plan
Dublin City Council is seeking an initial €114 million investment from central government to fund the next phases of its city rejuvenation roadmap.
A key aspect of this rejuvenation has been bringing together key stakeholders to agree to “a unified goal to make Dublin a more vibrant, safe and appealing city.” This group is known as the Rejuvenation Action Group (RAG) and have been identifying the key issues negatively impacting Dublin’s city centre.
Based under the domains of safety, movement, and public realm, the long term vision of the roadmap involves designing a 10-year Integrated Area Strategy for the city centre to manage major projects like the redevelopment of the GPO, reopening of the Ambassador Theatre, and redevelopment of the Abbey Theatre.
Other aspects of the plan include the establishment of a Legal Implementation Body to drive the revitalisation of O’Connell and radial streets, and tackle vacancy and dereliction. It also includes collaboration the Department of Housing to deliver improvement schemes within council-owned inner city flat complexes.
Cultural spaces including public gathering spaces, cafes, or outdoor areas that foster informal cultural activities will also be designed as part of the integrated strategy. Other aspects include supporting late night cafe culture and working with bodies like Fáilte Ireland to design cultural activities like the Dubline Trail.
Whether its tree planting, the development of more pedestrian friendly places, or a new safety warden scheme, the roadmap addresses the full spectrum issues that Dublin has faced in recent years.
The funding sought aims to take things to the next level and established an Interim Advisory Board with an independent chairperson to ensure planned progress is maintained following the formal establishment of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV.)
The roadmap was welcomed councillors who said it has the power to transform the city. “It’s fantastic to see the progress that’s been made. Obviously, there is a huge amount of work in the ambition and in the scope of what the SPV can deliver,” Green Party Councillor Janet Horner said.
“If this is delivered well, it has the power to be transformative for the city centre - to really change not just the specific buildings that the SPV would work on, but the culture of how we approach our city centre; what it should look like and what a thriving, dense, 'living over the shop,' vibrant city centre should be.
“Rather than what we’ve all got used to, which is looking at buildings which are half alive at best that sometimes populated the city core.”
The full Dublin City Centre Rejuvenation Roadmap can be viewed at www.dublincity.ie
This content is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme