Council Briefs: Councillors push to reopen the city centre laneway they closed last month, and more

Motion to reopen Harbour Court

At a meeting on Tuesday, local councillors on the Central Area Committee agreed that they should reopen Harbour Court, a city-centre laneway. But that doesn’t mean it will happen.

Most of the same councillors had voted last month to close the lane, which links Lower Abbey Street to the quays, because of safety concerns.

“It is regularly used for intravenous drug use and is littered with needles and other drug paraphernalia,” says a council report in July 2023. “Also it has become a location for illegal dumping.”

The full council voted in January 2024 to shut down Harbour Court – after local councillors on the Central Area Committee had backed the plans in July 2023.

Most councillors said they were going along with the idea reluctantly, that the closure was necessary, but also a sign of a poorly managed city centre and a lack of policing.

Several councillors said they wouldn’t feel safe using the route. “There is anti-social day and night. I certainly wouldn’t walk through it,” said independent Councillor Christy Burke.

Labour Councillor Joe Costello objected to the closure at the local area committee meeting in July 2023. Green Party Councillors opposed the plans at the full council meeting on 8 January 2024.

On Tuesday 13 February, Sinn Féin Councillor Janice Boylan and Burke, the independent councillor, tabled a motion to the Central Area Committee saying the council should reopen the city-centre laneway.

Burke said the closure of the laneway could serve as a catalyst for improving the area.

“That is the start of a journey and hopefully the manager, the elected members and all the main players can come together and reopen the lane,” he said.

But not everyone agreed. Independent Councillor Nial Ring said he couldn’t support the motion and that he still believes in the decision to close Harbour Court.

“That is a horrible lane,” he said. Anti-social activity and drug use would resume on the laneway if it were reopened, said Ring.

“We made a decision here and it went on to the city council, we can’t just decide now because there was a bit of publicity about it or whatever, or because Christy and Janice want to go on a journey – and fair play if they want to,” said Ring.

But to immediately reverse that decision “would fly in the face of the democratic process”, he said.

In the motion, Burke and Boylan called on the council to reopen the laneway and to animate it with lighting and murals.

They also called on the HSE to open a helpline for people in addiction and for the Gardaí to put a plan in place to increase patrols in the area.

And for homeless outreach staff to be empowered to offer long-term accommodation beds or places in rehabilitation facilities to people who need and want them.

At the meeting on Tuesday, Burke said he had spoken to people who were in addiction and who said they had never been offered options for rehabilitation.

Boylan said that since the votes to close Harbour Court some people had said councillors hadn’t tried to come up with alternative solutions to save the lane.

If things were to improve in the future the laneway could be reopened, she said, as was discussed in the original meetings.

The problems on the laneway had been going on for 30 or 40 years though, said Fine Gael Councillor Ray McAdam, who didn’t support the motion.

Council senior executive officer Frank Lambe said: “The decision was made to extinguish the public right of way. That decision was made and still stands.”

Sinn Féin Councillor Séamas McGrattan, who chairs the committee, said the motion was agreed and the councillors could expect a report later in the year.

But the council’s written response does not indicate that council management intend to reopen the debate about the laneway.

“The Area Office commit to working with local businesses in relation to issues affecting the laneway into the future,” it says.

Council promises to remove Airbnb lock boxes

Independent Councillor Mannix Flynn asked the South-East Area manager to investigate the proliferation of what he says are “Airbnb lock boxes” in the area, in a written question on Monday.

Flynn sent in photos of lock boxes attached to bike stands in the south inner-city, in Barnardo Square, Essex Street, Burgh Quay and Eustace Street.

An Airbnb host can tell a guest where to find one of the right key box, and the code to open it, to get a key to get into the building they’re staying in.

Green Party Councillor Janet Horner made a similar call in September 2023. Other European cities face a similar blight, with authorities in Paris considering a ban on the boxes.

Dublin City Council staff will remove the boxes, says the official reply to Flynn.

“Any lock boxes at the locations above that are on the public roadway will be removed by the environment and transportation department,” it says.

Speaking by phone on Tuesday, Flynn said the lock boxes cause obstructions, and a visually impaired person caught their cane in one of them.

The homes being let out, which these keys are for, should be occupied by long-term residents, not short-term customers, he said.

“It’s simply outrageous that people are sleeping and living on the open street of Dublin, yards from keys of empty flats and apartments that are chained to bicycle stands,” he said.

The key boxes are “a contemporary sign of an empty home and the shameless contempt for the homeless”, said Flynn.

Matt’s of Cabra Site

Indecision by Iarnród Éireann on what it plans to do with its interest in a portion of a long vacant and derelict site in Cabra is holding up efforts to put the site to use, according to a motion from independent Councillor Cieran Perry.

The Matt’s of Cabra site on Faussagh Road, where the hulk of the old pub stands, is right next to railroad tracks – with the building’s edge roughly 15 metres from the tracks.

“The delay in making a decision is affecting the potential development of badly needed social housing on this land,” says Perry’s motion. “This site has been an eyesore in our area for years and progress on developing the land is essential.”

The motion asked the council to write to Iarnród Éireann, which it had, and the written response was provided to councillors.

Iarnród Éireann’s response said it has applied for a railway order for the DART+ South West project, a rail project that aims to bump up frequency of the service between Hazelhatch and Celbridge Station to Heuston Station and also from Heuston Station to Glasnevin.

If An Bord Pleanála confirms the railway order, which gives permission for building work to start, “there will be a subterranean impact to the Matt’s of Cabra site”, it says.

“However Iarnród Éireann believe that this will not preclude future development, at the site, but it may have an impact on the construction process,” it says.

Iarnród Éireann is available to engage with the landowner to enable the development of the site, says the reply.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the Central Area Committee, local councillors discussed Iarnród Éireann’s response.

“I’m not happy with that, I’m going to have to think about what the next step is,” said Perry, the independent councillor.

The community cannot wait for the site to be developed, said Fianna Fáil Councillor Eimer McCormack.

“We have a phenomenal community that is buoyant and positive,” she said. “Our community have had enough of looking at this eyesore.”

She asked that all stakeholders get together for a meeting. Sinn Féin Councillor Séamas McGrattan, who chairs the committee suggested that the committee invite Iarnród Éireann to attend a meeting.