Changes to the timeline are particularly sensitive because of wider concerns about a lack of council investment in the north-west of the city.
Councillors had expected a public briefing this month on the Finglas Village Improvement Scheme, a long-awaited project to rejig the roads and footpaths around a busy five-arm junction, to make them better for walking and cycling.
Engagement with residents and community groups is "very, very important" before construction begins, said Councillor Keith Connolly, of Fianna Fáil, at September's monthly meeting of the full council.
Indeed, what was going on with the project? said People Before Profit Councillor Conor Reddy, at the same meeting.
It's delayed, said assistant chief executive Celina Barrett. While the scheme went out to tender, “it has come back in at a higher budget than we had budgeted for”, she said.
“We're currently in the process of trying to find those additional monies,” she said.
For councillors, talk of funding shortfalls and delays when construction was supposed to start this past summer is frustrating, they said.
Particularly, when Ballymun and Finglas – which make up the council’s administrative North West Area – are receiving significantly less capital investment, seeing fewer big non-housing projects, than other parts of Dublin.
At the meeting, Chris Manzira, acting director of the council's Active Travel Programme, said they hadn't met with local councillors in September, as they were going through the approvals process for a contractor.
“So, we have been engaging with the area manager, and we have agreed to be included on the agenda for the October meeting,” he said.
The hope is, he said, that if they are successful in securing the additional funding needed, “we will then have appointed the contractor, and we'll then be able to meet yourselves with our contractor as well, and outline to you how we will be implementing this scheme”.
The scheme to improve Finglas village, to make it safer for cyclists and pedestrians, and better looking for everyone, has been planned for years.
The project takes in Seamus Ennis Road between North Road and the Clune Road/Glasanaon Road junction, as well as part of Jamestown Road between Main Street and the big five-arm junction.
Plans include segregated cycle lanes along Seamus Ennis Road, improved footpaths and changes to the five-arm junction.
Part of Jamestown Road would become largely dedicated to walking and cycling, while retaining local vehicle access to businesses.
A bollard would prevent vehicles using that section to enter the five-arm junction, effectively turning it into a four-arm junction.
Eighteen parking spaces would be removed, although council plans say there are more than 170 off-street spaces in the village.
The scheme is also intended to connect with future cycling infrastructure, BusConnects and the proposed Luas Finglas.
In April, a council manager said construction was expected to begin during the summer.
At the time, Social Democrats Councillor Mary Callaghan responded sceptically: "You have no idea how many years we've been hearing that."
Sam Tranum
The council subsequently put the construction contract out to tender.
The National Transport Authority allocated €1.5 million towards the scheme for 2026, while the council had also put aside the same amount, €1.5 million, according to its capital programme.
It wasn't just the Finglas Village scheme that councillors were asking about.
There are also two roundabout schemes pending – one at St Margaret's Road and McKee Avenue close to Lidl, and another on the Jamestown Road.
At St Margaret's Road and McKee Avenue, the council has proposed installing two signal-controlled pedestrian crossings and narrowing traffic lanes to improve pedestrian safety.
The Jamestown Road changes are more substantial, with plans to replace the existing roundabout at Jamestown Road, Melville Road and Poppintree Park Lane with a signalised junction.
But Reddy told last week's meeting that, despite councillors discussing the roundabouts for a long time, there was still no clear date for the Jamestown project to move forward.
The delays are particularly sensitive because of wider concerns about council investment in the north-west of the city.
Under Dublin City Council's 2026–2028 capital programme, Ballymun and Finglas – which together make up its North West Area – were allocated just two percent of the council's capital spending on non-housing projects.
Even after adjusting for population, the north west remained at the bottom of the five administrative areas, with €475 per person compared with €2,208 in the South East Area.
Lois Kapila
Council Chief Executive Richard Shakespeare acknowledged the disparity when councillors debated the capital programme earlier this year.
"Yep, in terms of investment, the North West doesn't do well. I don't know why," he said, adding that the imbalance could be reviewed.
At the time, Callaghan pointed specifically to the Finglas Village Improvement Scheme as an example of a project repeatedly appearing in capital programmes without being delivered.
Residents wanted a Main Street comparable to thriving urban villages elsewhere in Dublin, she said back in April. “It really is not fair that such a big population don’t have that basic nicety that the rest of the city seems to have."
At last week’s meeting Callaghan again pled for stronger investment in her area.
“They said the Finglas improvement scheme is going over budget, and I just want to remind the council that the Ballymun/Finglas area will only be allocated two percent of the capital budget,” she said.
“One of the projects out of that capital budget, two roundabouts were delayed,” she said. “So, it's really important that we get that extra funding for the Finglas upgrade."
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
“They’ve no money for windows, but they’ve how much to fill this field with even more apartments and houses?” says Charlene Paget, in Darndale.
"If you ask, you'll be told this is part of the BusConnects project, we can't touch it until then."
Will they be gone? Should they be kept?
Once known as "Bolton House", and later the "Bolt Hostel", the building has a troubled history.
