Four of the capital's most neglected inner-city areas are to be transformed over the next five years by the most ambitious urban renewal programme ever planned by Dublin Corporation.
Unveiling the programme yesterday, the City Manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, said it was expected to generate a total investment of more than £750 million, with two-thirds of this coming from the private sector.
Because of the current economic boom, Dublin was now "awash with potential developers who have buckets of money to spend", he said. The corporation's job was to ensure that as much as possible would go to the areas of greatest need.
Mr Fitzgerald said this effort was underpinned by the "more holistic approach" of the latest set of urban renewal tax incentives.
The corporation has drawn up integrated area plans (IAPs) for six areas: Ballymun, Inchicore/Kilmainham, O'Connell Street, the north-east inner city, Liberties/Coombe, and the HARP (Historic Area Rejuvenation Project) area extending westwards from O'Connell Street to Collins Barracks.
Managers have been appointed to oversee the implementation of these plans in five of the six areas, with the last of them to be named shortly. In each case, the corporation is working closely with local community and business interests.
"It's what people out there want, not something that we're imposing on them", Mr Fitzgerald said. The corporation is also working on further education projects for deprived areas.
"Money was always an issue in the past, but it's not a problem now, so funding is secured or about to be secured for all the projects."
The City Manager said the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, and his Department deserved credit for their "fabulous support" of the corporation's programme. "They recognise that there's a job to be done and they're prepared to provide the funding for it."
Mr Ciaran McNamara, project manager for the O'Connell Street IAP, said its aim was to re-create the atmosphere which Dublin's main street used to have before it became so "tacky" and "user-unfriendly" that people did not want to be there.
He said the street's new focal point, the 120-metre Millennium Spire, was expected to be installed ahead of schedule in early November. Work would also start soon on a plaza in front of the GPO and he could even see a profusion of pavement cafes.
Mr Paul Maloney, project manager for the north-east inner city IAP, said despite high crime levels and an unemployment rate of 50 per cent, this area still had a strong community spirit.
The "bleak landscape" dominated by blocks of local authority flats is to be transformed by replacing many of them with new housing, where everyone would have their own front door. This would restore some of the character which the area had in the last century.
Mr Michael Stubbs, who is overseeing implementation of the Liberties/Coombe IAP, said work on the long-delayed Cork Street/Coombe by-pass would start next year, and it would be used as a vehicle to secure the redevelopment of this blighted area.
Among the major projects already under way or being planned are a £12 million refurbishment of the Iveagh Markets, including the addition of a 70-bedroom hotel, and a £30 million "Guinness Experience" which would provide an anchor for tourism in the area.
Mr Jim Keogan, who heads the HARP team, said tenders would close shortly for the contract to carry out its flagship project, the repaving of Smithfield and installation there of 12 gas-brazier beacons, each 26.5 metres high.
A new hotel and traditional music centre are opening next week on the former Jameson distillery site, and other schemes are in the pipeline. "Because we have confidence in the area, private developers have confidence in the area," Mr Keogan said.
The City Manager said the programme was not just about renewing the physical fabric but also about addressing community needs. And although six areas had been singled out for special treatment, he stressed, the rest of the city would not be neglected.
