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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DCBA Chairman, David McCormick addresses AGM

Friday the 26th of March 2010

• Welcome. Former Lord Mayor Eibhlin Byrne, City Manager John Tierney, Assistant Garda Commissioner Mick Feehan, Guests and fellow members of the DCBA. It gives me great pleasure to welcome you here today. There is no doubt that 2009 was a uniquely challenging year for us all and 2010 will prove equally difficult. Gone are the days of apparent boundless growth and prosperity. The imperative now is about retaining jobs and for many simply to still be in business in 2011 will be the measure of success.
• We are uniquely privileged to be working and contributing to the success of  Dublin our capital city. It seems to the DCBA that it has become strangely unfashionable to trumpet the cause of Dublin City. There is a strange view being touted about that it doesn’t matter where people shop and do business. And so what if shoppers and business migrates to the suburbs.
• We in the DCBA hold a very different view. A view not simply born out of a narrow parochial interest but a view generated from a deep pride in our country and capital city. Dublin should be the jewel in the crown of Ireland a place which we can be proud of, a city in which we can demonstrate our new found maturity as a nation.
• How is it that we seem to have become polarised in our thinking and attitudes to each other?
• There appears at times to be a complete disconnect between business in the producing sector of the city and those in the protected sector who seek to promote the key agendas of a safer and greener city.
• We in the DCBA are and always have been fully supportive of the restriction of car commuting in favour of the mass transit options of DART, Luas and Dublin Bus and Metro.
• However we do not and cannot support measures which drive the car born shopper to the suburbs.
• If politicians are truly committed to improving the ambiance of Dublin City, simply by ministerial order the number of cars commuting into Dublin 1 and 2 can be reduced by over 2000 per day. This single measure would have a greater impact on the quality of life for cyclists and pedestrians than any of the recent measures”.
• We in the DCBA welcome the recent setting up of the National Transport Authority under the chairmanship of John Fitzgerald former Dublin City Manager.
• In this context it remains to be clarified how the NTA will integrate with the recently proposed Directly Elected Lord Mayor.
• The proposal of a Directly Elected Lord Mayor still needs much clarification and clear thinking by us all.
• It is critical that whatever form this proposal ultimately takes, central to all our decisions is the need to maximise empowerment of the citizens of Dublin and minimise the duplication of function, responsibility and cost in local government.
• We in the DCBA are however strongly of the view that the Rate Payer should have a say in this process. To quote the American slogan of the 1700’s “No taxation without representation”

• We in DCBA are firmly of the view that the resource that is Dublin City centre is one that we all should treasure. There is a wealth of resource in terms of public domain and under utilised buildings that should and can be developed at relatively minimum expense.
• In this regard we are delighted to hear the Dublin City Council have started to address how and when the repaving of the Grafton Street area will be done. And we welcome the opportunity to engage with the City council as to how this may be done to minimise the disruption.
• While we remain fully in favour of the Metro Project we must ensure that the work is done in a timely and efficient manner. We cannot allow the “treatment to kill the patient”
• We in the DCBA like many others have wrestled with the thorny issue of the Landlord/tenant debate. We welcome the decision to ban upward only rent reviews going forward. However there is an urgent need for all parties to address the increasing difficulties tenants are facing. Particularly those who in good faith entered into leases in the recent past which are now liable to result in them going out of business.
• In conclusion may I pay tribute to the Garda Síochána for the great job they do on all our behalf. Dublin is one of the safest cities in the world. To the City Manager John Tierney and his team Charlie Lowe and Eileen Brady (Who is soon retiring, may I wish you a long and happy retirement). We in DCBA are very appreciative of the inclusive way in which Dublin City Council carry out their function. We do not always agree with everything, but I am convinced that by healthy debate in the appropriate fora many of the challenges facing Dublin can be resolved to the benefit of all its citizens. Dublin is changing and as outlined in our recent report “A Spatial Vision for Dublin” will under go dramatic change over the next few decades.  I am confident that all of us working together will ensure that Dublin will become one of Europe’s finest Capital Cities where people will have a great quality of life.