Dear Dirty Dublin: Don't Look Up!

[Image: Ormonde Quay site by Google Maps showing a previous mural since removed by Dublin City Council]

Dereliction

In my travels around the country and wandering around Dublin city, it is quite noticeable the amount of boarded up shops and dilapidation on our main streets in rural towns and in the capital. An Taisce's Heritage Officer, Ian Lumley has been vocal on the plight of Arklow in Co. Wicklow. He's seen below speaking at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport on the importance of supports for buildings of cultural significance. Urban centres in other countries don’t seem to have the same dereliction as Ireland. Why is this? I feel there are many reasons and if action is not taken, our built environment could become very rundown and lacking in life. A recent development is the pace of online shopping which is impacting life on the high street. I’ve mentioned dereliction in some of my blogs and now feel it’s time to concentrate on what’s happening in my home town, Dublin.

When you are cruising through the streets of Dublin on your bike, downstairs on a bus or behind the wheel of a car, you won’t notice a lot of what is going on around you. (Upstairs at the front on a bus you will notice a lot!) Recently I was in town waiting for somebody, so I had time to look around our capital city. I was in O’Connell Street and North Earl Street. The dereliction and social problems were clear to see:

  • There was a good deal of vacant premises on our main street and surrounding ones. I especially noted the lack of use of upper floors where the ground floor is operational as a business. 
  • The crisis of homelessness is in evidence with so many rough sleepers in tents and sleeping bags on city streets.
  • A good deal of litter, especially single-use coffee cups.

On another occasion, I was between events in Dublin and therefore took the opportunity to look at Capel St. It’s good that it has been pedestrianised, but I felt the meal delivery boys were going too fast on their throttle e-bikes and e-scooters. I walked up and down the street looking at the buildings from top to bottom. I was concerned at the perceived lack of activity on the upper floors and several businesses were unfortunately shut down. In particular, I was concerned at the closure of the auction rooms near the top of the street (nos. 114-116) which was built in 1871. This former antiques business in a fine 4-storey period building is up for sale – its closure adds to feelings of dilapidation on the street. Hopefully it will get a decent new use shortly.

In general on the street, windows were open, unkempt and curtains (if any) told a tale of desertion. The higher floors were more neglected with poor maintenance and had seen no paint in many years.  In passing, I feel part of the problem is lack of awareness of these issues as passers-by are busy looking down at their phones: they need to  LOOK UP and see the dereliction around them. The public are more involved in their private lives and less concerned about the deteriorating public realm surrounding them. 

Former MEP and architect Ciarán Cuffe gives regular Open House tours of the North inner city which attract big numbers. Ciarán states that upper-floor usage on Capel St. is higher than appeared. As research for this blog, he and I went on a tour of Capel St. and environs and tabulated what we saw. I reckon it was a mixed bag. Ciarán advised to tour the street after dark to see what activity took place above street level.

Around the corner is Ormond Quay and the longstanding dilapidation that is the Ormond Hotel site. It was famous as the scene of the Sirens episode in James Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses. It has been a gaping hole on the river frontage in Dublin since its demolition in 2018. It’s owners are paying a 3% Residential Zoned Land Tax of 3% while they work to sell or develop the property. It should be on the Derelict Sites Register and paying 7% annually, even though it is visible as derelict from the DCC offices across the river on Wood Quay! The Dublin Inquirer recently wrote a piece on the former Ormond Hotel looking at why it's not listed on the Derelict Sites Register. 

When I was in the Dublin City Association of An Taisce in the 1990’s, it was great to go to the Mother Redcaps pub across Back Lane after meetings. It was a fine use of the old Winstanley shoe factory in the Liberties. Music would regularly be played and I remember the copies of old newspaper front pages on the walls. It is an absolute shame that it has been boarded up for over 30 years and becoming ruinous. It is part of the ongoing legal case. An Taisce has commented on this on several occasions, included in this Irish Times story.

We should have much stricter rules about use of dilapidated buildings in urban centres. We should use the “use it or lose it” principle. Owners must not be allowed to sit on properties for years in the hope of making a capital gain. Given the housing and homeless crises, we should not allow existing buildings to fall into ruin. What do we mean by “dereliction”? Current practice is to assess buildings as dilapidated from the outside, not structural damage inside. This led to Phibsboro's Connaught Street debacle where the owners tidied up the outside and the buildings were then taken off the register. Planning rules should be changed to allow business premises to be turned into homes. Properties could be sold to the highest bidder after (say) 12 months following declaration of empty space. Vacant site levy is hampered by the area has to be over 500 sq. metres, which precludes a good deal of smaller businesses from being prosecuted.

In regard to usage of upper floors, the building regulations need to be simplified to allow change of use at a reasonable cost. Obviously, we need to ensure good fire precautions: there must be ways to overcome these obstacles without major interventions. If all buildings on a street are in use, it makes the whole space more attractive and leads to increased activity (and shopping etc.) This becomes a win-win situation for locals and visitors alike.

In the current situation, are derelict site levies working? Two properties in Capel Street have outstanding levies of over €10k. and €14k. Why are these not being paid? If not paid, they should be sold to somebody who will use it, after unpaid fees are taken out of the sale price.

Is there an issue with the constitution, whereby private property is overly protected at the expense of the common good? We must improve our public realm of the built environment for the betterment of people and places.

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