I’m shutting shop after 42 years as cycle lane will wreck my business
Jeweller says council plan will make parking impossible
A JEWELLER has decided to shut up shop following 42 years in business after claiming that the installation of a cycle lane outside his premises will decimate his trade.
Damian Duggan, 60, from Clontarf in the capital, has owned Duggan Jewellers in nearby Fairview for the last four decades.
However, he insists that the council’s plan to put in a cycle lane from Clontarf to the city centre has removed parking spaces for his customers, who travel from far and wide.
As a result, he claimed he has been forced to close the business that he inherited from his father, Edward Duggan, who died from injuries he sustained in a robbery at the age of 63.
Mr Duggan himself has also been targeted by thieves in the past. He said: ‘I was stabbed in the chest in a robbery but I was back in work two days later. That’s what you do when you’re self-employed.’
Duggan Jewellers has been a major part of Mr Duggan’s life, but after three years of battling with the council, he was feeling the strain. He said: ‘I am now 60 years of age. The last thing my wife wants me to do is have a bloody heart attack.
‘I’m so worked up and animated and it’s just getting heavier and heavier on me – I had to call it and make a decision.’
The jeweller says the council has not consulted with businesses in Fairview, despite claiming it has dropped leaflets regarding the cycle lane in nearby Burgh Quay and Drumcondra.
He said: ‘I received a letter two days before we announced we were closing and it was the first bit of consultation we had.’
Mr Duggan revealed that one year he worked 25 consecutive days leading up to Christmas. He explained: ‘You don’t do that for pay, you do it because you’re passionate about what you do.
‘I always thought I’d be carried out of here in a wooden box but the day they started putting the bollards down I said “that’s it”, and we closed.’
Mr Duggan explained that as well as the parking spaces being removed, traffic will increase as Howth Road, Malahide Road and Clontarf Road all merge into a ‘bottleneck’.
He said: ‘If you have an option of going to a jeweller somewhere else, where you know you’re able to park and pull in and there’ll be no problem with traffic, you’ll drive there.
‘The amount of people that have supported me by car is huge. A lot of elderly support you because they trust you, because they can walk in here and they know your first name, so they feel safe coming to you.’
Mr Duggan has worked with his colleagues Bernie, for 20 years, and Pat, for 16 years, who will both be left unemployed due to the closure.
He was told online that he was a ‘liar spreading fake news’. He said: ‘I don’t want to say this, but the other businesses are sleepwalking into this, and now they are beginning to react and think: “Oh my gosh what are we going to do?”’
While Mr Duggan says goodbye to his own business, he has been offered a job as a service manager at Paul Sheeran Jewellers in the city centre. He is now looking forward to taking his first lunch break in 42 years.
He said: ‘I’m delighted to take the job, but I’m devastated to be leaving here. It’s getting harder
every day, I’m absolutely devastated.’ Duggans Jewellers will close its doors for the final time on May 28. He said: ‘Before this happened, I wouldn’t have even thought of closing, never. I’m so proud of this place. I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved.’
A spokesperson for Dublin City Council said: ‘Car parking spaces are being reduced along the Clontarf to City Centre Project and, along the section between the Tolka river and Alfie Byrne Road, there are 42 car parking spaces being retained, which is a reduction of eight spaces, with the majority of the car parking spaces being retained to the front of the businesses along Fairview.
‘Recent communications for the project consisted of a number of meetings with councillors, businesses and residents, the distribution of information leaflets to 21,931 homes and business in January/February (Area 1), and a second leaflet delivered in April to
‘I thought I’d be carried out of here’ ‘Consultation with stakeholders’
58,260 homes and businesses which extended to Drumcondra Road (Area 2).
‘The project went through an extensive Part 8 Public Consultation in 2017, was approved by the elected representatives of the City Council in October 2017. Submissions from residents and business were received during this consultation process, they were taken into consideration during the ongoing detailed design process.
‘Consultation has continued with various stakeholders, specifically through the Local Area Committees which consists of locally elected representatives, and a Consultative Committee which also includes local elected representatives, and representatives from local residents groups and businesses.’