Why has some of the greenery in city planters been left to wither?
The council hasn’t been able to find a contractor willing to take on the job of looking after these plants, a council official says.
“Your daughter going into the bushes to do a wee on a Saturday morning in the park is not ideal, at all.”
“We've gotten broken promises before from Dublin City Council, but this all feels different. We’ve never had this commitment before.”
The council met local residents Monday to talk about options. Previous ideas have included housing, sports facilities, and a Traveller resource centre.
A delay in a railway project means Iarnród Éireann won’t need it for a couple more years. “That was the only stumbling block, that it would be required back very shortly.”
Church Mews, Church View or Church Place? Not good enough, said independent Councillor Cieran Perry.
“You stand on the pier and it’s different every day. The sky is changing, the water, the clouds. It’s the most wonderful facility. The whole prom is.”
The mission is to connect people, and “get people to realise that they have a lot more in common than they have differences”, says CEO Sam Bishop.
“I was lying in my hospital bed and I just kept thinking, ‘God, please don’t let me die. I want to live to see the dump gone,’” says resident Annette Flanagan.
The county’s joint policing committee was stood down last June, but the new local community safety partnerships aren’t up and running yet to replace it.
The 200-page document recommends what facilities should be put in what areas of the county.
Dublin City Council says it’s not, but other councils have managed it elsewhere.
“The work isn't fully satisfying. There's a kind of contingent element, or an element that you know is only going to exist in a certain way at a certain time.”