> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.dublininquirer.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Robert Watt's not going to be Tsar of Dublin, city councillors say - URL: https://www.dublininquirer.com/robert-watts-not-going-to-be-tsar-of-dublin-city-councillors-say/ - Published: 2026-10-22T23:27:52.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-22T23:27:52.000Z - Description: They're set to back the creation of a special purpose vehicle he's been picked to head, which is meant to play a major role in regenerating the city centre – but how major is in dispute. - Author: Laoise Neylon - Tags: city centre, City Desk Most councillors say they support a plan to set up a new special purpose vehicle (SPV) to revamp the city centre – but there is no agreement among them as to the extent of its role, or whether the city centre is getting a new tsar. It will be down to councillors to decide whether to set up the vehicle, according to a July [report](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28829368-building-momentum-reporting-progress-on-the-roadmap-for-delivery-of-the-dublin-city-taskforce-ud-1/?ref=dublininquirer.com) published by the Department of Taoiseach. No terms of reference have been published, but councillors say they expect the SPV to be established in the coming months. Senior civil servant Robert Watt is to be the CEO of the SPV to implement the recommendations of the Dublin City Taskforce[ report](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28318132-capital-city-dublin-city-taskforce-report/?ref=dublininquirer.com) – which promised "10 Big Moves" to transform the city centre, according to the [Department of the Taoiseach’s website](https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-the-taoiseach/press-releases/dublin-city-task-force-robert-watt-to-head-up-project-management-unit-and-be-ceo-designate-of-special-purpose-vehicle/?ref=dublininquirer.com). But Social Democrats Councillor Cian Farrell – who chairs the council’s planning committee and sits on the interim [advisory board](https://www.dublincity.ie/news/inaugural-meeting-interim-advisory-board-dublin-city-councils-proposed-special-purpose-vehicle-lead?ref=dublininquirer.com) to the future SPV – says the new SPV will be in charge of only four of those 10 Big Moves. Farrell says the SPV’s focus will be on regenerating O’Connell Street and the GPO, tackling dereliction, jazzing up the city centre to make it attractive to visitors, and marketing it. “It will be a real estate company looking after those specific moves,” he said, on a Zoom call on Thursday. The SPV can advise and advocate in relation to the other taskforce recommendations, says Farrell. Media reports [that call Watt a Dublin regeneration "tsar"](https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/2026/10/21/arnotts-asks-dublin-revamp-tsar-to-move-gpo-welfare-payments-to-reduce-antisocial-behaviour/?ref=dublininquirer.com) are overstating his role, says Farrell. Dublin City Council will transfer some of its property to the SPV, but won’t transfer any of its functions, he says. The current remit as explained by the Department of the Taoiseach is too broad, says Green Party Councillor Janet Horner, covering sensitive issues such as where to place social services, policing and social housing regeneration. The *Irish Times* recently [reported ](https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/2026/10/02/dublin-1-unfairly-burdened-with-huge-overconcentration-of-social-services-robert-watt/?ref=dublininquirer.com)comments by senior civil servant Robert Watt, who is set to chair the new SPV, about the need to reverse the “massive overconcentration” of emergency accommodation in the city centre – one of the 10 Big Moves, which [the government has been working on.](https://www.dublininquirer.com/as-government-moves-to-scatter-homeless-services-is-it-a-good-idea/) Horner says she supports the idea of the SPV if it is focused on tackling dereliction, but that it shouldn’t be in charge of complex decisions around social services for vulnerable people. Putting an unelected tsar in charge of the city is undermining local government, she says. “There is no transparency, there is no accountability in the vision of how this is structured at the moment,” she says. But independent Councillor Nial Ring says he fully supports the new SPV, including a move by the business group DublinTown to employ a private security firm. And he firmly backs plans to reverse the centralisation of homeless services in the city centre. If Watt is called a tsar that is fine with him, Ring said. “I don’t care if they call him the king of the north inner-city,” he says. “As long as they get the job done.” ## Councillors see the SPV's roll as limited What is the purpose of the new special purpose vehicle for Dublin city centre depends on who you ask. Limerick City and County Council set up special purpose vehicle Limerick Twenty Thirty to develop certain lands. For a time Limerick Twenty Thirty [had no councillors on the board](https://www.dublininquirer.com/could-dublin-councillors-be-cut-out-of-major-plans-for-city-centre-as-councillors-have-been-in-limerick/). However the directly elected Lord Mayor appointed three councillors to the board in September 2025, according to the [*Limerick Post*. ](https://www.limerickpost.ie/2025/09/12/mayor-appoints-three-new-board-members-to-limerick-twenty-thirty/?ref=dublininquirer.com#google%5Fvignette) Horner, the Green Party councillor, says she would back an SPV for Dublin if it mirrors the one in Limerick, which is mostly in charge of property development. In Dublin, the proposed remit of the SPV seems so broad that local councillors representing the inner-city – like herself –are virtually being made redundant, says Horner. Horner has no problem with Watt, she says. “It's the mandate he has been given by the Department that is the problem,” says Horner. Farrell, the Social Democrats councillor, says that for most of the 10 Big Moves, responsibility is not transferring to the SPV. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9f/78/9f782dda-9dc9-44d1-b817-fe80588bdc76/content/images/2026/10/data-src-image-bb57218c-478f-4f75-a6c2-d195f9560f0e.png) List of 10 Big Moves from the Dublin City Taskforce report. For example, the Dublin Region Homeless Executive and the Health Service Executive will retain oversight of homeless services, he says. Dublin City Council will still be responsible for social housing regeneration. The Department of Justice will remain in charge of Gardaí, says Farrell. The SPV can act in advisory or advocacy role in relation to these issues, but the council isn’t transferring any of its power, he says. Farrell says that some media coverage of the issue is disproportionate. “Robert Watt is not a Dublin tsar. He is the CEO of the Dublin City Development Company,” says Farrell. “Some of the headlines are misleading from my perspective.” “Inner-city councillors have to have a say,” says Ring, the independent councillor who sits on the interim advisory board, together with Farrell as well as Sinn Féin Councillor Kourtney Kenny, Fianna Fáil Councillor Deirdre Heney and Fine Gael Councillor Colm O’Rourke. “I think its so important that I’d be confident the city council will keep us in on it,” says Ring. The SPV will remain under the council’s control, says Sinn Féin Councillor Mícheál Mac Donncha; it is not a private entity. Any sale of council land will still have to be decided by councillors, by law he says. ## But the government might have another view A detailed description of Watt’s new role, posted on the [Department of the Taoiseach website](https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-the-taoiseach/press-releases/dublin-city-task-force-robert-watt-to-head-up-project-management-unit-and-be-ceo-designate-of-special-purpose-vehicle/?ref=dublininquirer.com) in April this year, seems to say he will have responsibility for the implementation of the 10 big moves recommended by the Dublin City Task Force. “Robert Watt will be seconded to Dublin City Council as head of the Project Management Unit and as CEO-Designate of the Special Purpose Vehicle to be established to deliver on the recommendations of the Dublin City Task Force,” it says. It doesn’t mention any split in who is responsible for what. The July report from the Department of Taoiseach [gives a](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28829368-building-momentum-reporting-progress-on-the-roadmap-for-delivery-of-the-dublin-city-taskforce-ud-1/?ref=dublininquirer.com) broad outline of governance structures for the roll-out to date – with an Oversight Board for the recommendations chaired by Department of the Taoiseach, with "relevant departments and agencies" supported by "subgroups and bilateral meetings". Down the chain, there's already the Project Management Unit, which is expected to become the SPV, an interim advisory board, and a "rejeuvenation action group" which draws input from local businesses and is expected to continue to feed into the SPV. The initial focus of work of the SPV, which is already underway through the Project Management Unit, is drawing up an "Integrated Area Strategy" for the city centre, which "will be used to attract and leverage private investment into the revitalisation of Dublin City Centre". The SPV will also be responsible for using "every measure available to maximise and leverage public funding and investment to optimise the potential for private investment to help realise the ambitious vision for Dublin City", that July update says. ## What will the SPV do? The interim advisory board of the SPV met for the first time in June, and [its make-up raised a few eyebrows](https://www.dublininquirer.com/make-up-of-new-board-to-guide-city-centre-regeneration-suggests-focus-on-business-and-property-development/): it includes councillors, business people, institutional investors and finance experts. But almost fully absent are the voices of the inner-city community development organisations, homeless and drug services, residents of social housing, Gardaí, or anyone working in community safety. The Taoiseach’s task force was established following the Dublin riots to tackle safety in the city centre. The needs of the working-class residents of the inner-city are often not aligned with the desires of the business community, says Mark Fay, a spokesperson for the North Wall Community Association. “Clean-up operations mean pushing problems out of the business districts into other areas,” says Fay. “It's all optics.” Farrell, Ring, Mac Donncha and Fianna Fáil Councillor Deirdre Heney all say they support the planned project to regenerate the inner-city. As well as the revamp of O’Connell Street there are plans to renovate inner-city social housing complexes, and a project to tackle dereliction, starting with [a pilot project ](https://www.dublininquirer.com/the-council-has-a-new-plan-to-regenerate-the-city-centre-street-by-street/)on North Frederick Street and Middle Abbey Street. Dublin City Council has appointed architects to do feasibility studies for retrofitting and improving four city council flat complexes, including greening and improving play areas, according to a [council update on the taskforce in July. ](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28829368-building-momentum-reporting-progress-on-the-roadmap-for-delivery-of-the-dublin-city-taskforce-ud-1/?ref=dublininquirer.com) The pilots will provide timelines and costings and when finished the council and the Department will consider how to proceed using the existing Towns and Cities Regeneration Investment Fund. “The north inner-city needs to be addressed seriously,” says Mac Donncha. “There are lots of challenges and opportunities.” He hopes that the new SPV will tackle dereliction, progress plans to upgrade the GPO, and develop the Moore Street area. “We want the government to come in and purchase the rest of the Moore Street Terrace,” he says. The Office of Public Works has plans for the conservation of 14 to 17 Moore Street, and the use of the space to the rear, at 8 to 9 Moore Lane, for the creation of a visitor centre. Also, “There needs to be better community policing and better support for the community,” Mac Donncha says. “If this special purpose vehicle can work on all those things, that is very positive.” Ring says he expects substantial funding for the SPV to roll out city-centre regeneration to be announced soon. He backs plans by the business group, Dublin Town to employ a private security firm, he says. He believes that their approach will be “lighter than the guys on the Luas”. Dublin Town [previously hired community safety wardens](https://www.dublininquirer.com/what-have-the-citys-community-safety-wardens-been-up-to/) to patrol the to “maintain a highly visible, reassuring presence in prominent city centre locations and being person centred, open, proactive and approachable”. Their job description included referring issues to relevant authorities, like the Gardaí and the council, and signposting members of the public, including those who are vulnerable, to relevant services. Ring said Big Move 4, "Make policing and security more visible and add 1000 Gardaí", was the most important of the 10.“We need a garda presence on O’Connell Street at all times,” he says. He welcomes [the decision to stop opening](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28829368-building-momentum-reporting-progress-on-the-roadmap-for-delivery-of-the-dublin-city-taskforce-ud-1/?ref=dublininquirer.com) more emergency accommodation in the city centre. “I know you could be cancelled, but we have been dumped on in the inner-city,” he says. Fianna Fáil Councillor Deirdre Heney, who chairs the council's housing committee, and is also on the interim advisory board for the yet-to-be-created SPV, says she thinks "the work to improve O’Connell Street and the city centre is vital". Some people have an impression that O’Connell Street is unsafe, Heney says. “We need to get people living on O’Connell Street,” she says, that will help to revitalise it and make it feel safer. Farrell, the Social Democrats councillor, says the SPV is a real estate company with responsibility for tackling dereliction and revitalising O’Connell Street, as well as marketing and communications and making the city centre more attractive for visitors. He says the organisation can advocate on the other 10 big moves, but won’t have direct control over them. The council is progressing plans for a central city library on Parnell Square, has released expressions of interest for meanwhile use of rooms in the GPO building, and launched new artists' studios on O’Connell Street, he says. “There is really good momentum and progress happening within a relatively short time,” he says. “That whole taskforce area has been mapped by the derelict sites team." The roadmap outlines that the core area covered by the taskforce, is O'Connell Street and surrounding streets to College Green, Capel Street, Gardiner Street and Dorset Street. Councillors say the next step is cash. “The government promised a billion euros,” says Farrell. “As far as I’m aware we haven’t seen any of that.”