The Irish Times view on Dublin city centre: it is clear that new approaches are needed via IrishTimesOpEd
Garda out on patrol on Talbot Street in Dublin's north inner city. Many people are demanding more Garda presence on the streets after incidents of anti-social behaviour in Dublin city centre. Dublin city centre has a problem. In reality, it has a series of interlocking problems, some of them newly minted and others going back generations. Recent commentary on the issue in the wake of a number of high-profile assaults has been overblown at times, however.
While this is not borne out by official data on street crime, the sense of unease on some streets is palpable. Open drug dealing and drug taking have become more prevalent along the quays and on O’Connell Street. A rise in the use of crack cocaine contributes to an aura of menace.
There is no doubt that the pandemic and associated lockdown served to accelerate several unwelcome trends. Empty streets, shuttered businesses and vacant offices have only seen a partial return to pre-Covid normality. Online retail and remote working will continue to have a hollowing-out effect on cities, which must therefore reinvent themselves as attractive places of leisure and entertainment.
It is an indictment of local and central government that they have failed to prepare for this reality. A vibrant city requires a vibrant cultural economy, yet Dublin’s cultural capital has been badly eroded over the past decade, with venues closing without being replaced. A safe city is a lived-in city, but attempts to encourage “over-the-shop” apartment development have been sporadic, and most of the centre remains a ghost town after midnight.
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