Dublin councillors slam 'appalling' state of city centre planters
The state of some of Dublin City Council’s (DCC) city centre planters came under fire from councillors at the authority’s monthly meeting.
Green Party councillor Janet Horner first raised the issue in the active travel section of the meeting, describing the standard of plant containers throughout the city as “appalling”.
"We spoke here about the importance of the revival of the city centre and it looking its best. The planters which are all along Parnell Square, that are at the top of Ryder’s Row, at Capel Street. Most of them are in an appalling state,” she said.
Ms Horner said she had been asking about getting the correct contract in place to ensure proper maintenance of the green street features.
"It’s between the parks department and the transport department, as far as I know, but it is really crucial,” she said.
"We’re putting all this effort into Summer in Dublin, and the basic things of planters that are full of weeds or empty, or knocked over, is really letting down the streetscapes.”
Lord Mayor Ray McAdam said he would like to echo councillor Horner’s comments.
Fine Gael councillor David Coffey agreed with the others, adding that Dublin’s planters had “weeds sprouting out of them everywhere”.
He also took issue with the council’s use of plastic bollards and urged its policy on their use to be reviewed.
In response, John Flanagan, transport executive with DCC, said the council was “working on” improving the state of its planters.
"We would hope that we would see some progress on that between the roads division and the parks department over the next number of months. We’ll make a conscious effort that works will have to improve there,” he said.
Planters have become an increasingly common sight throughout the capital in recent years, featuring trees, shrubs and greenery in high-footfall locations such as Capel Street and Grafton Street.
They are also set to be provided on the recently-pedestrianised Parliament Street, once works on the street are fully implemented.
DCC provide many all-seasons planters throughout the city in the form of bedding plants, hanging baskets, tubs and planter boxes.
Many of the plants within those containers have been cultivated and are maintained by parks services at St Anne’s Nursery on the north side of the city.