Council officials lay out what they plan to focus on first in “rejuvenation” of city centre

A new pilot scheme for vacant properties on three streets and an outdoor dining scheme for O’Connell Street, are among the first moves being put forward for rollout under “rejuvenation” plans for the city centre.

Also on the list is work to bring in “meanwhile uses” to fill some vacant sites around O’Connell Street, says a report which came before Dublin city councillors at their July monthly meeting.

The report from executive manager Karl Mitchell also laid out who is expected to work on implementing these and other measures, which flow from the recommendations of the Taoiseach’s Taskforce for Dublin.

Dublin City Council plans to set up an interim project management office, under the council’s City Co-ordination Office, to start on the work, it says.

But that’ll be temporary, it says. It will wind down once the council has set up a “special purpose vehicle” to take over, a structure that should allow them to move at speed and look at options for “off-balance sheet” finance, said Mitchell. 

Keeping finance “off-balance sheet” means that it wouldn’t add to the state’s debt under EU fiscal rules. 

Mitchell sought approval from councillors for the approach – which they gave. They did ask a few questions, though. 

All the attention to the city centre is welcome, said Labour Councillor Dermot Lacey at the meeting. But what role will councillors have in oversight of all this?

And where’s the funding to come from? said Social Democrats Councillor Daniel Ennis. “I’m blue in the face now – it’s lucky I’m a Dub – I’m blue in the face saying this: when are we going to see a budget allocated to this?”

The report

Mitchell’s report laid out what officials have been doing since the riots of November 2023, when crowds burned through the city centre. 

The council had set up the City Co-ordination Office – which Mitchell leads – to better co-ordinate approaches to the city centre, the report says. 

That office brought together stakeholders including An Garda Síochána, the National Transport Authority, the HSE, Fáilte Ireland, and business and education groups. 

The group was called the Rejuvenation Action Group (RAG). Members identified key concerns about safety, lack of public-transport options, and the cleanliness of the city. 

In May 2024, RAG started to develop a rejuvenation plan to address these.

Meanwhile, the City Co-ordination Office also looked at models of delivery for this work – including special purpose vehicles used in Limerick and London. 

In tandem, the then Taoiseach, Fine Gael’s Simon Harris set up the Taoiseach’s Taskforce for Dublin, which came up with “10 Big Moves” to revitalise the city centre.

Like “revitalise O’Connell Street and environs”, “prioritise the total regeneration of social housing complexes in the city centre”, and “implement a dedicated waste management plan for the city centre”. 

The SPV

Rolling out the “big moves” demands a model that can move fast, says Mitchell’s report, “with agility to operate efficiently and transparency, with regard to political oversight and public awareness”.

Dublin City Council’s executive suggested it be done through a special purpose vehicle (SPV). The Taoiseach’s Inter Departmental Group agreed, says the report. 

Mitchell said the SPV would be a council-owned company.

Janet Horner, a Green Party councillor, said she thinks the SPV is going to be very  worthwhile. 

But “a lot of the concern among people is going to be to make sure this enhances the role of the city council and it doesn’t end up bypassing or replacing the role of the city council”, Horner said. 

Deciding what goes through the council chamber, and what goes through the SPV is important, she says. “I think that’s going to be one of the key things.”

Lacey, the Labour councillor, pointed to the taskforce’s report, and how it doesn’t make reference to councillors in the section about governance. It said the implementation team would be led by the Department of the Taoiseach.

Lacey doesn’t want civil servants, who have let the city down, overseeing this, he said. “I want to see an elected body determining the future of this city.”

Lord Mayor Ray McAdam, a Fine Gael councillor, said there are four councillors on the board of Limerick’s SPV. He asked what the thinking is here in Dublin on that.

“We want to co-construct all of this with the members,” said Mitchell. There’s already a City Centre Councillor Review Group set up to work with the City Coordination Office, he said.

The idea is that the councillors on the SPV would be the conduit between the chamber and the work of the SPV, he said. 

Mitchell said council officials have told the Taoiseach’s Office that they think councillors need to sit on any oversight board.

Getting going

Mitchell’s report runs through the first projects the interim project management office could work on – before the SPV is set up to take over the work. 

Those include, among other steps,  developing a “reimagined integrated area strategy” with a new incentive scheme for vacant shops and properties on Middle Abbey Street, Lower Henry Street and North Frederick Street. 

The office would support meanwhile uses of key vacant sites in and around O’Connell Street to encourage footfall into the core city centre, it says. 

At the meeting, Mitchell said the council is talking to the developer Hammerson about meanwhile use of the old Carlton Cinema site on O’Connell Street Upper, which is earmarked as part of the big Dublin Central redevelopment stretching from the main thoroughfare across to Moore Street. 

That’s “to make sure that we just don’t have dead sites on the street”, said Mitchell.

The report also says they will start and evaluate a pilot of the Living Over the Shop Scheme on Middle Abbey Street, it says. 

And turn Moore Street into a re-energised market space with seasonal greening, and a suite of events and outdoor art for O’Connell Street, it says. 

Meanwhile, the office will also develop a Special Outdoor Dining Scheme to facilitate high-quality day and evening uses on O’Connell Street, it says.

Also on the list is to develop and implement a new City Centre Indoor Day Services Plan, it says, but doesn’t go into detail.

Eye on the money

At the meeting Ennis, a Social Democrats councillor, said he welcomed the amazing work and ideas – but sought clarity on where the money is to come from. 

Declan Flanagan, the Fine Gael councillor, asked for more detail on the finance – and the idea of having the entity off-balance sheet to allow for borrowing. 

Tony Flynn, a council assistant chief executive, said that the taskforce report estimates that its recommendations would cost between €750 million and €1 billion. 

So far, the government has said there is €114 million extra available to the council on top of its existing allocation of funding for the north inner-city, through the Urban Renewal Development Fund (URDF), he said.

There’s also the chance to put in for money under the third round of the URDF in the future, Flynn said, for projects around dereliction and vacancy.

Meanwhile, the Department of Housing is to give extra money for some elements in the plan, he said. 

Extra funding from the local property tax is one funding source, he said. Central government has said that the council can keep €19 million more of what it collects, with the expectation that it will use it to fund taskforce recommendations. 

There’s also the possibility of a new visitor bed tax, he said. Vacant sites levies could be used to fund the SPV and the project management unit, he said.  

“We believe there’s great potential, anyway,” he said. 

All that is not set in stone with written confirmation yet, he said. But they’re quite confident from their engagement with the central government that funding streams will happen, he said.

The plan is also to leverage as much funding as they can from identified sources off-balance sheet, he said. 

Local authorities across Ireland can collectively borrow €118 million a year, he said. There is an ask to lift that cap, but that might not happen. 

But an SPV with different funding sources and assets would mean that they could, regardless, leverage those assets to borrow on international markets, he said. 

At the meeting, Conor Reddy, a People Before Profit councillor, said that there are often different visions of urban regeneration. 

There’s a progressive vision where people can afford to live in the centre of it with high-quality public spaces, he said. 

There’s also a corporate model with grey office blocks, corporate student housing and closed public spaces, he said. 

Most councillors in the chamber support the first, he said. “We’re going to have a battle through this process in maintaining that progressive vision.”