Council Briefs: The Taoiseach’s City Centre Taskforce, and dropping plans to make Mansion House more accessible

Oh look, another taskforce

Dublin city councillors voiced annoyance at Monday night’s meeting that they won’t be invited to contribute to the new taskforce for the city centre, announced by Taoiseach Simon Harris on 9 May.

Some asked how the taskforce differed from several other forums already up and running to tackle safety in the city centre.

The new taskforce aims to bring together city-centre stakeholder groups including Dublin City Council, An Garda Síochana, and the National Transport Authority (NTA), as well as business representatives, community groups, and service providers.

“The goal is to make Dublin City Centre a more thriving, attractive, and safe cityscape; and a desirable location to live, work, do business and visit,” says a press release from the Department of the Taoiseach.

At the council meeting on Monday, the Lord Mayor, Fianna Fáil Councillor Daithí de Róiste, proposed an in-depth discussion about the new taskforce.

To be accepted as a “topical issue” for debate at a full council meeting, two-thirds of councillors must agree. In this case, 31 of the 63 councillors voted in favour – so they didn’t debate the issue at length.

Still, some couldn’t stay silent. Labour Councillor Dermot Lacey raised it when the council’s correspondence was being discussed by asking if the council had received any missives about it.

“I am surprised that given the announcements over the last two weeks that we haven’t received a letter yet from the Taoiseach in relation to the taskforce,” said Lacey. He also asked about councillors’ representation on it.

Council Chief Executive Richard Shakespeare said that he hadn’t had a letter but got a verbal update. “The intention is that there would be no political representation on it,” said Shakespeare.

The council will be represented by the manager of the City Co-ordination Office and the Night Time Economy Advisor, said Shakespeare.

Said Lacey: “It’s very strange for the Taoiseach of the country, three weeks before local elections, to totally, completely and absolutely dismiss the democratically elected representatives of this city.”

De Róiste, the Lord Mayor, said: “I do find it weird myself.” But he gave another reason.

Most of the stakeholder groups that are going to be invited to sit on the new taskforce already meet through the City Co-ordination Office, he said.

“We had the assistant commissioner of the Guards, we had Failte Ireland, we had two members of Dublin City Council, we had the Restaurants Association, the Vintners Federation, we had the NTA, the Lord Mayor sat on it,” said De Róiste.

Other structures also already exist in Dublin city centre with a similar remit. On the northside of the city, the Department of the Taoiseach set up the North East Inner City Taskforce in 2017 to address issues of crime and deprivation.

The north inner-city also has a local community safety partnership, which brings together a wide range of stakeholder groups, including statutory bodies, community representatives, councillors and the business community.

Following three national pilots, including the north inner-city one, the government recently introduced new legislation and plans to roll out the community safety partnerships nationwide.

At the council meeting, Social Democrats Councillor Tara Deacy, who chaired the outgoing City-wide Joint Policing Committee, said that she was disappointed by “the complete lack of engagement” from the Taoiseach’s office when establishing the new taskforce.

“I think it was not only disrespectful but also dismissive of the work that we are already doing on the ground with the community,” said Deacy.

Fine Gael Councillor James Geoghegan said that the objective of the community safety partnership is to get more groups engaged in making the streets safer than were involved under joint policing committees.

“The objective of the Taoiseach’s taskforce, as he has set out himself, is to improve the outlook for the city centre,” said Geoghegan. “It’s not about diluting the role of local elected members.”

The Taoiseach, by leading the taskforce, will maximise the focus on Dublin City Centre, said Geoghegan. “I hope the output will be positive for the city centre.”

Dropping the Mansion House plans

Councillors had been due on Monday night to vote on whether to press ahead with long-standing plans to improve accessibility in the Mansion House, the home of Dublin’s Lord Mayor.

But, ahead of the meeting, council group leaders – the council heads of political parties and the independents’ group – decided not to put the proposal forward. Exactly why wasn’t clear.

“It won’t proceed, just for the moment, until further operational impacts as regards the aspect of the Mansion House are assessed,” said the Lord Mayor, Fianna Fáil Councillor Daithí De Róiste, at the meeting.

Since 2016, the council has been working on proposals to resolve the issue of access. There have been long-running complaints that the building isn’t always accessible for people with mobility issues, because the lift often breaks down.

The council had brought forward a plan for changes, under its internal planning process, known as Part 8. Those changes went out for public consultation in February.

The plans showed a redesign of the entrance to the left of the Mansion House on the lower ground floor, with a gently sloping path down to the door. They also showed an internal lift, to access the upper floors of the building.

Some disabled people’s organisations had complained that they were not consulted, and that this was in breach of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.

At a meeting of the South East Area Committee in April, councillors also raised the issue that the part of the building where the new entrance would be located is currently the entrance to Fire Restaurant, which rents from the council.

Independent Councillor Damien O’Farrell asked if the plan was being dropped due to the failure to consult some disabled peopl’s organisations. De Róiste said that wasn’t the reason.

O’Farrell asked if there would be another consultation process for the existing proposals.

But De Róiste said there wouldn’t be, because the plan had been withdrawn. “The Part 8 has fallen now,” he said.

By phone on Tuesday, Labour Councillor Dermot Lacey, his party’s group leader, said that some of the former Lord Mayors, who had lived in the Mansion House, felt that there were a few practical issues with the design.

Like, a door was positioned in a problematic way, he said. “It’s such an important building. We only have one chance to get it right.”

On bringing GAA club to heart of Ballymun

At Monday night’s meeting, Fianna Fáil Councillor Keith Connolly proposed a motion calling on the council to agree to lease a site off the Main Street in Ballymun to Ballymun Kickhams GAA club.

And, the council should charge a nominal fee until the site is fully developed, and the club should also get to keep its existing facility for the next 30 years, he said.

Ballymun Kickhams are based outside of Ballymun village at the moment and the plan for them to move to a central location, known as site 31, has been mooted in local area plans since at least 2017.

Connolly says that the successful club has produced many Dublin players, including current Dublin captain James McCarthy.

But it is currently out in Collinstown, which has poor public transport links, said Connolly. “Having a club like Kickhams in the heart of Ballymun … would be very, very beneficial.”

Ballymun has specific problems and the club needs a “unique deal”, said Connolly.

The motion, though, was batted back by council CEO Richard Shakespeare. No way, he said.

He had met officials from Ballymun Kickhams many times, said Shakespeare. “Over the years, it’s backwards and forwards. We are making progress, we’re making no progress.”

“And then it becomes totally unrealistic in terms of, you might say, the land swap,” he said.

It could create false expectations for other clubs, said Shakespeare. “That we will give land away because it’s a good community cause – and we are effectively privatising public land.”

Shakespeare said that Shelbourne FC is buying its home ground in Drumcondra, Tolka Park, from the council for €1.5 million in cash and in kind.

For Ballymun Kickhams, a land swap for the existing facility would be fairer than keeping their current facility and getting another site from the council for next to nothing, said Shakespeare.

But Social Democrats Councillor Mary Callaghan supported Connolly’s motion.

“The people in Ballymun Kickhams are heroes in the Ballymun community,” she says. “Children look up to them, the teenagers really respect them.”

It’s sad that the club isn’t in the centre of Ballymun, she said, because lots of people don’t have cars.

Said Sinn Féin Councillor Anthony Connaghan: “As a staunch GAA man, I support the GAA at every opportunity”.

But the site in central Ballymun is valuable and every sports club in the council’s administrative North West Area and throughout the city is looking for land, he said.

“Maybe the city council needs to develop a municipal facility there [on the site in Ballymun] and a whole range of sports gets the opportunity to avail of it,” he says. “It might be a more appropriate route to go.”

Connolly said he was surprised by the negative response. The club would be getting a site which it has to pay to develop, so it would need to retain its existing facility until that work is completed, he said.

Lots of money is being spent trying to address the problems in Ballymun, said Connolly.

“We all know sports plays a massive role, keeping kids off the streets, seeing people on TV and thinking, ‘That could me,’” he says. “We have a unique opportunity here.”

“I don’t think we are too far away from a deal if the right people could be in the room,” said Connolly.

His motion was not agreed. Instead, councillors decided to look at proposals for the site at a later date.

Ballymun Kickhams didn’t respond in time for publication to a query sent Tuesday.