‘Dublin not as we want it to be,’ An Post boss tells taskforce

An Post boss David McRedmond will lead the Government’s new Dublin city taskforce. He will work as an independent chair of the group, which will include up to 12 members, including from An Garda Síochána, local authorities and the National Transport Authority.

There will also be representatives from businesses, trade unions, community and service providers and culture and arts providers.

Mr McRedmond said there is an “actionable list” so that people can be “proud of Dublin”.

“I want to very much represent the views of citizens and make sure that this is a city that is a nice place to be in, a workable place to be in and has a really clear sense of place,” he said at Government Buildings yesterday.

The taskforce, set up by Taoiseach Simon Harris, will have 12 weeks to submit recommendations to the Government on things that can be done to improve Dublin city centre.

It will complement the work already under way within the Dublin City Coordination Office and tie in with existing initiatives, such as the North East Inner City Initiative and the North Inner City Local Community Safety Partnership.

Mr Harris said yesterday that the taskforce will not duplicate the work already under way within other organisations, and instead will pull together “best practice across a whole variety of initiatives”.

Mr McRedmond said the city “hasn’t fully recovered” since the pandemic and this is “clear to everybody”.

“There’s no great surprise that the city needs a taskforce to make sure that we can actually accelerate to a position where we restore what was there and hopefully plan better for the future,” he said.

He added that Dublin city is “not as we want it to be at the moment”.

“I think the city could be better and I think we can undoubtedly have a much better public space on the streets and in the parks and amenities,” he said.

Speaking of the dismantling of a makeshift migrant encampment along the Grand Canal yesterday, Mr Harris said the previous tent city on Mount Street came “real close” to becoming a “real public health emergency”.

“Issues will arise from time to time, as it did in Grand Canal and action was taken – swift action,” he said.

“You didn’t see a situation go on for weeks and months and months as it previously has in Mount Street.

“The days of people saying, ‘That’s not my issue, that’s for that department, that’s for that agency’, I don’t want to hear it.

“This is the Government. This is Ireland. This is Team Ireland. And this is a real challenge we’re facing.”

“The city could be better. We can undoubtedly have a much better public space on the streets and in the parks” David McRedmond