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LAST UPDATE | 7 Jun
DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL often asks us to Believe in Dublin (#BelieveInDublin), but it is difficult to muster faith in a city so badly managed as our Dirty Old Town.
The city once lauded across Europe for its elegance and grandeur is now ramshackle, incoherent and trashed. The council’s campaign is aimed at fostering pride and optimism, with commendable goals on community spirit, safety, regeneration and much more, but the lived experience of the city tells us that we are far from attaining any of these aims.
I am a returned emigrant. Like many, I want to once again make Dublin my home. I spent 12 years abroad, living in cities in Europe and the Middle East, and visiting many more across the globe. Upon each return, I was always struck by the deterioration of the city and how poorly it compares.
No doubt Dublin was particularly badly hit by the Global Financial Crisis and the pandemic, but those events are well behind us, and the coffers are apparently full. Dublin City Council’s website has reams of press releases, policy papers and proposals, which show vision and intent, but where is the implementation? Why does the city still look and feel like a mess?
Walking into the city centre, on any route, you are struck by the scale of the litter problem. And it’s not just fresh litter, there’s old, embedded rubbish on street after street, in alleyways, in doorways, in basement entries, stuck in planting, even in front of the National Museum at Collins Barracks.
With no sign that it will ever be dealt with.
It’s not just unsightly and embarrassing, it’s a public health hazard. On entering O’Connell Street, I was confronted by one of those litter-collecting machines. No doubt its operator had mowed multiple times up and down the thoroughfare, but what about the side streets? What about the rest of the city centre? The machines, weaving around parked vehicles during daytime hours, just aren’t effective at cleaning the streets.
On a recent visit to the Spanish city of Cadiz, I witnessed the local council’s cleaning operation in action. A team entered the square in full hazmat-esque suits, gloves, boots and goggles. They lifted litter and emptied the bins. They were closely followed by a second team, which had hoses, watering down the pavements, and thoroughly cleaning the actual bins and their surroundings. They then moved on to nearby streets to continue the process. This was all completed in about 30 minutes, at 2 AM. It was clear there was coordination with the closing of bars and restaurants.
I witnessed a similar operation in Amsterdam. At 6 AM on a Saturday morning, the city’s cleaners sprang into action, cleaning up the mess from the night before, sweeping up smashed glass and puke puddles. What was striking was that the authorities had contained the raucous nightlife to one smallish area. As the rest of the city was pretty clean and undisturbed by the night’s events. Residents have been prioritised over tourists. Build a city for its residents, and the tourists will come. The other way around, and the quality of life deteriorates.
The rollout of the Dalek-like bins is to be welcomed. They are effective and stop seagulls and foxes from using them as feeding stations. But many are already in a bad state. For them to be a true success, all old-style bins need to be replaced, and they should be cleaned and properly maintained.
Some city residents have literally taken matters into their own hands. Local volunteer groups meet to pick up trash. This is hugely commendable and socially conscious, but it’s a mark of shame for the council.
The groups trail the streets, roads, parks and waterways of their neighbourhoods in an effort to make their lived environment better.
Why has it come to this?
Why is Dublin so heavily littered?
And why is the council doing so little about it?
From what I can see, councils in Ireland are well funded, so I cannot understand why public services don’t come as a result of that. I also don’t know a similarly wealthy European city that has such a chronic litter problem.
Ultimately, however, littering is a personal behaviour, and whilst it is the council’s responsibility to keep the city clean, people littering is a major part of the problem. During a recent visit to the modern art museum, IMMA, I was sitting outside when a group of youths started throwing cans at each other. I confronted them, but was met with indifference.
As I tried to prevent a veil of red mist descending, a group of British artists sitting beside me joined in, to try and reason with them, but we were met with a wall of cheek. As the 12-year-olds whizzed off on their e-scooters, we cleaned up after them. The South Londoners were aghast at the brazenness.
Anti-social behaviour is becoming endemic in the city centre. Walking in from Kilmainham to town, I witnessed three separate groups shooting up, one just off South William Street, in full view of all passers-by. On Lower Abbey Street, the Luas stop was plagued by menacing, angry heads shouting, drinking alcohol and smoking joints. And whilst there is a noticeable increased Garda presence, the consequences for this behaviour seem non-existent. There is no deterrent, no fear of the law.
Of course, if the city of Dublin doesn’t hold itself to any sort of high standards, then it’s almost inevitable that some of its residents will not respect it either. One striking thing about walking around Dublin is the state of the footpaths. There’s not one street in the city centre that doesn’t have an issue. Even Grafton Street, which was only renovated a decade ago, has a number of patches of ‘temporary’ paving. These are a real eyesore. Utility and service providers seem to have free rein to rip up paving on a whim and replace it with tarmac.
Another Dublin curiosity is bollards, I counted four different types on one street. How did this even happen? And many of the new bollards are flimsy, with some already damaged or gone, and the so-called street wands are an eyesore! Does Dublin City Council have some sort of obsession with bollards now? Are they going cheap or buying in bulk?
A two-year regeneration of the streets and lanes between Grafton Street and Dawson Street is about to get underway, but so much more needs to be done. The area around South William Street, which is arguably the most creative since Temple Bar was taken over by pastiche tourist traps, has been crying out for regeneration for years. Apparently, there is a plan, but no sign of it yet. And let’s not even mention the College Green fiasco!
South Great George’s Street, through Aungier Street, to Wexford Street and on up Camden Street, contain some of the country’s top eateries and bars that attract the city’s residents, unlike Temple Bar. These streets are aesthetically dreadful and pedestrian-unfriendly, with missing and uneven paving blighting much of them.
Capel Street, which is one of Dublin’s most interesting streets, has just been renovated. It’s a big improvement, but the streets flowing off it still look neglected. They’re ramshackle and bear no relation to the street’s new look. It’s a similar situation for both Francis Street and Liffey Street. The approach to regenerating the city feels like it is being done in an isolated, patchwork fashion. What is needed is a building-by-building, street-by-street, lane-by-lane, area-by-area approach.
A simple start would be the removal of cheap flags that blight so many buildings and the riverside. Also, the removal of excessive, cheap and pointless signage that haunts so many buildings, blocking and damaging the architecture, would go a long way in improving the cityscape.
Likewise, the removal of the trails of graffiti and the encouragement of proper street art. Shopfronts need to be more tightly monitored, ensuring they work with the rest of the building and others on the street. The standards that have been applied to the proposed changes to the McDonald’s outlet on O’Connell Street need to be applied to all street-level businesses throughout the city.
It shouldn’t be a challenge to ‘Believe in Dublin’. The city has so much going for it. The people, the history, the music and the energy are second to none, but the aesthetics of the city, our capital city, are severely lacking. The council and the government need to be more innovative and dynamic in their approach to running a global metropolis.
Dublin rightly sees itself as a rival to Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Barcelona, but a quick visit to any of these, and you see just how lacking it has become.
Gus Landy is an Irish journalist with over two decades of experience in the Middle East and Europe. Working for the BBC, Al Jazeera and Bloomberg.
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