LATEST DUBLIN CITY NEWS

• “Proposed changes to retail guidelines will cost jobs, compromise main streets and cause more dereliction - An Taisce”

  03-01-2012

  Jobs will be lost and main streets will suffer if Forfas gets its way on Retail Planning  according to a recent An Taisce  Press Release

• Rejuvenating Dublin's Tourism Product

  23-12-2011

  Dublin City Business Association commissioned Jerome Casey and Felim O’Rourke to undertake a study of tourism in Dublin and to make least-cost recommendations for its rejuvenation. The World Tourism Organisation concluded (in relation to Ireland) that "there appears to be very little correlation between marketing spending by National Tourism Organisations and international arrivals". 
  

  Within Ireland, there is a mismatch between the Irish tourism market and the public resources devoted to it. 

  33 existing tourist attractions in Dublin were reviewed, and low-cost initiatives suggested for their improvement.

  From 2000 – 2010 Ireland’s share of world tourism visitors has fallen sharply. In 2004, Ireland changed from being a destination country for incoming tourists to an origin country for Irish, outgoing tourists.

  Dublin must move from passive approval of tourist activities to an active development of tourism as a priority industry in regenerating the city’s economy. 

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

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City Manager addresses DCBA & Dublin Civic Trust

Friday the 30th of April 2010

Launch of Defining Dublin’s Historic Core 29th April 2010
 
David, Tom, Geraldine, Ladies and Gentlemen it is a privilege to have been invited to formally launch this report this evening. I am here for three reasons
• Because of David and Tom and in recognition of the work they do in representing business interests in the city centre
• Because of Geraldine a fellow North Tipperary person but a huge advocate for this City’s heritage for many years – so in recognition of her and her colleagues and work of the Civic Trust
• Because as City Manager I value the quality of a submission such as this to the Draft Development Plan
Some might argue that the Civic Trust and the DCBA are strange bedfellows or an unlikely coming together for the purpose of making a submission to the CDP. I only wish we had more of this sharing of a vision among different groups. But then again the prize is worth fighting for and the City Centre or core is a prize worth fighting for collectively. I will come back to this point in a moment when I outline some of the complementary projects that we are working on in the City Council.  There might be an expectation that I would be defensive because it highlights deficiencies in City policies, or implementation of city policies or deficiencies in physical works. On the contrary I am well aware that I inhabit an imperfect world and I have read the report as being constructively critical. There is a fine balance between the recognition of the good and criticism of the not so good.  Talking to Dick Gleeson the City Planner about the report he said it was timely, constructive and provocative I don’t think I could describe it any better.   Timely in terms of the candidature for UNESCO World Heritage Listing, The Draft City Development Plan, The Designing Dublin examination of the City Core, And the Draft Public Realm Strategy Constructive in that it shows how Dublin needs to embrace these defining Georgian Squares into a spatial and urban design legibility Provocative in that the study supports a value system that sees the Georgian and Victorian legacy as critical to the identity of the modern inner city and to its business, tourism and retail potential.   The report is obviously a labour of love laced with beautiful and original photographs which capture the city in many different moods and uses light in a very effective way to highlight particular detail. Every work we undertake is a self portrait and we should autograph with our excellence. That was certainly the intention here.  The Chapters are very well laid out with the History and attributes setting the context (history and time to create) followed by Connectivity, Ceremonial and Civic Space and Public Realm and then of course the thorny issue of getting about. Then we get to the suggestions for improvement and how we might draw inspiration from other cities. I must say I like the idea of a beautiful streets initiative.  I have often said that a city is a work in progress at every point in time. This report highlights opportunities as we plan the future city.   Much of our thinking for the future is reflected here - how we plan based on a more integrated approach – we have listed the six key elements as the economic, social, cultural, environmental, urban form and movement of people. It is about how we meld all of these aspects together. Of course there is the ongoing difficulty of funding.   For years we have had very limited funding for public domain works outside of the major projects such as O’Connell Street. The work at the Cornmarket I think has been effective also. We are about to move on Smithfield shortly with the help of EU funding. We will be commencing on a public consultation phase on Grafton Street and its surrounding area. This will certainly give us an opportunity to put some of the recommendations in this report into practice and we hope to commence physical works next year.  I mentioned earlier about our City Centre Core project. We are very conscious that the City Centre is under serious pressure from the recession and other places. So how do we
• make the City Centre a better, more vibrant place.
• engage individuals in conversation and action about this and this report fits in with that aspect and
• build a cohesive sense of the City Centre – again report contributes.
 The team we have working on this are based in Cultivate in Temple Bar and if any of you have a moment to spare tomorrow pop in and see the work they have done to date from identifying stakeholders, to the various plans and proposals for different parts of the city centre to ideation about what could help to make it a better place. Their working methods are based on the design learning approach and all the more interesting for it. Anyway you will be hearing more about it.   Tom Coffey says in the press release that the report is designed to provoke ideas for the continued success of the city centre as a destination for shopping and as a place for enjoyment to live and work.  I think it is and will do that. It will certainly be used within the City Council to do this. Ultimately we all want to drive Dublin forward as a creative and sustainable city and be a place where family, community and the economy can prosper together.  That embraces everything from the historic core to the modern concepts of a smart city. Thank you again for the invitation and well done to DCBA and Civic Trust