The Dublin Community Blog

There are reports coming through of a suspect device having been found in St Ann’s Church on Dawson St in Dublin. No more details as of yet. According to AA Roadwatch Dawson St is closed until further notice. The Army Bomb Squad are en-route to investigate this. More details on these as we find them.

UPDATE 16:34

According to an AA Roadwatch update Dawson St has now re-opened but traffic around the area is very heavy.

There has been some discussion recently regarding the plans by the owner of Dartmouth Square in Ranelagh to open it as a commercial car park (charging €10 per car per day) and to build a crèche and gym.

Some background. The owner, Mr. Noel O’Gara, purchased the freehold of the 2 acre park sometime last year for a nominal price (believed to be in the region of €10k) from the Darley Estate, the family that originally developed the square. According to the Dublin City Council (formally Dublin Corporation) website: “This 0.8 hectare park in Ranelagh was in private ownership up until 1987 when it was acquired and developed as a public park by the Corporation�. It seems that Dublin City Council never renewed the lease when it was up and Mr. O’Gara snapped it up.

An injunction preventing the park from being used as a car park was lifted by the High Court last week after Mr. O’Gara gave an undertaking that he would not use it for that purpose. The case is back in the High Court on Oct 9th. I hope Mr O’Gara and Dublin City Council can come to some agreement that doesn’t involve the taxpayer forking out millions or involve the park being turned into a concrete jungle.

I’m all for people protecting their investment and trying to make a profit, but I think wanting to make a quick buck by turning a lovely, well maintained, park into a car park is just wrong. I sincerely hope that all Councils are going through their records and ensuring public parks remain public. It’s easy to feel smothered by concrete in cities and green areas are a welcome respite.

Some photos of the park can be found on this Archiseek thread.

UPDATE 25/09/06

An Bord Pleanála have this morning ruled that Dublin City Council can compulsorily purchase Dartmouth Square. Further details here.

Based on similar projects in Paris and Rome, the Temple Bar Cultural Trust is planning to open the doors of Dublin’s museums, galleries and theatres for one evening on September 22, according to Breaking News.ie.
Free access for the public will be granted in 40 venues and include outdoor films in Meeting House Square, the National Museum of Ireland and the Temple Bar Music Centre to name a few things.
Participating venues include:

Access all Arts Gallery, Chester Beatty Library, City Hall, Contemporary Music Centre, Cultivate-Sustainable Living & Learning Centre, Darklight Film Festival, Dublin Castle, Dublin City Gallery – The Hugh Lane, Farmleigh, Filmbase, Gallery of Photography, Graphic Studio Gallery, Green On Red Gallery, Irish Film Institute, Irish Museum of Modern Art, James Joyce House, Kerlin Gallery, Meeting House Square, National Gallery of Ireland , National Library of Ireland, National Museum of Ireland [Archaeology and History, Kildare Street], National Museum of Ireland [Decorative Arts and History, Collin’s Barracks], National Museum of Ireland [Natural History, Merrion Street], National Photographic Archive, Number 29, Original Print Gallery, O’Reilly Theatre at Belvedere College, Rubicon Gallery, Temple Bar Cultural Information Centre, Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, Temple Bar Music Centre, Temple Bar Square, The Abbey Theatre, The Ark, The Crow Gallery, The Design Tower, The Gaiety School of Acting, The Gaiety Theatre, The Lab,The National Archives, The Royal Hibernian Academy Gallagher Gallery, The Rubicon Project

More information can be found at the Temple Bar website here.

What is it with car drivers and the rain? It seems that they look out their windows see the rain start and think to themselves “Oh look rain, I think I’ll drive around for a while”. I would like to say it’s Dublin only, but I’m pretty sure it’s a world wide phenomenon.

I had to go into town today to get some tickets checked at a travel agents and the roads were as busy as I’ve seen them in ages. Packed solid with traffic. Rush hour in the middle of the day. In total I spent about 80 minutes on the bus for 10 minutes in the travel agents. Now looking out my window it’s sunny and the roads are flowing freely.

Here are a couple of tips for Dublin drivers in the rain.

1) Yes we know its raining, but that does not mean the bus lanes are open. I don’t care what your mates in the pub told you.

2) Speaking of bus lanes, those big yellow things, they are called buses. Take one, it’ll make things better for everyone.

3) No, you don’t need the Evening Herald right at this moment and no you don’t need to drive to the local shop to get it. If you are determined to read this mornings news remember God gave us umbrellas so people could spend a few minutes walking in the rain.

4) Splashing the water off the road does not help dry the roads, it only pisses off the pedestrian you soak. Formula 1 cars may need a dry line but your 98 reg Mercedes does not and you certainly are not Michael Schumacher.

5) Everyone else is in the same boat as you. Beeping your horn and waving your arms will not make the cars disappear, no matter what you think you learned from Harry Potter.

6) Your hair is already ruined, you wont be able to fix it in the rear view mirror. Just drive the car.

Ok, rant over.

This morning sees the arrival of the first Royal Yacht to Irish waters since Victorian days, when the Norge, the yacht of the Norwegian Royal Family docks at the North Docks for an official state visit by the King and Queen of Norway.

King Harald V and Queen Sonja are here for a three day visit, that will see them meet with the Taoiseach and President as well as visit Trinity College and a number of other locations around the city before moving onto Cork.

If you’re about the North Quays today and you get some pictures, please add them to our flickr group.

A lot of people are surprised when I tell them where I come from: Summerhill, north inner city Dublin. I think the thing is that they have a preconception that once I’m from there I’ll only able to communicate in short guttural grunts and by hitting myself repeatedly on the head with a stone or something. Well I’m proud to come from north inner city Dublin, sure some of the people are bad (like anywhere) but some are great too. With that in mind, my aim in blogging on The Dublin Community Blog is to show you some of the great places, people and events of north inner city Dublin, you might be surprised how great life can be living here.

You can visit my blog here: The Beaten Track

I live in a small building in the city centre. Since I moved in a little over a year ago, I have tried to figure out how to recycle. I have figured out how to get the stickers to put on my rubbish bags. When I asked in the Post Office how to get the recycling stickers that I have seen on things on the street, they didn’t know. They also didn’t know who to ask. When I asked my coworkers about recyling, they responded that they have green bins and didn’t know how to get them or if I should have one.

So, unfortunately, I have not been recycling here. It bothers me because I like to recycle as much as possible. Anyway, today I noticed in the “junk mail” pile on top of my mailbox a Dublin City Council recycling flyer. I picked it up and looked at it. It had suggestions on ways to reduce, reuse and recycle. It listed what could and couldn’t be recycled. It mentioned green bins and green bags for recylcing. It didn’t say how to get them. The flyer also had a website (www.dublinwaste.ie)

I decided that maybe the website had the answer to my question. Nope. The site talks about recyling, how much it costs for rubbish and recycling pick up per year and says how great the Councils are. Well, that is unless you buy the stickers since we folk pay per bag. The site does list bring banks and you can search for one near you. However, the site doesn’t list what the banks allow. It seems to list what they allow other than your usual recycling. It doesn’t say if they accept the stuff I should be able to recycle at home.

So, here is my question to you, dear readers. Does anyone know how I can get stickers for recycling? Does anyone know where I can get green bags for recycling? I found a recycling centre on Fleet Street (via the website) but do they take the “normal recyling?”

The weather is cooling down, there’s a nip in the air, traffic patterns have changed. The streets are emptier. I just got back from my holiday. That means the end of tourist season!! Sure, there are still the usual hen parties and such but those go on year round. I like the tourists because they usually seem happy but I have to say it is nice to be able to walk down the Quays to my apartment and not be constantly running into people looking lost or confused.

The end of tourist season is also the beginning of autumn. That means that school is back in term and I get to have fun meetings and observe my clients in their schools. It also tends to be good hiking time in Ireland. Well, when it isn’t raining. If you enjoy hill walking, there is a hill walking festival in Skerries the 30th Sept. and 1st Oct. More information can be found on the Fingal Website (http://www.fingal-dublin.com/walking_festival.htm). The website seems to have been updated poorly from last year, though since some of the dates seem wrong. The festival is free.

Arnotts, a department store in Dublin, is proposing a €700m redevelopment of Henry Street, Liffey Street, O’ Connell Street and Middle Abbey Street into a shopping and residential zone which is being called the ‘Northern Quarter’
Artists impressions of the redevelopment which includes constructing a plaza between Henry Street and Middle Abbey Street, are shown below. The plaza is proposed to contain 47 new shop buildings, 17 cafes, restaurants, bars, apartments and a hotel.

The Evening Herald is reporting that Arnotts has been snapping up properties between Henry Street, the GPO arcade, Middle Abbey Street and Liffey Street in the event their plans are given the go-ahead spending an astonishing €100m. They estimate the works will take place up until 2010.

I have a couple of thoughts on this, while it looks good and sounds exciting, how can a department store decide to redevelop an area this size? Also can we face more works in this area? How many of you remember the ongoing works on Henry Street a few years back where a significant proportion of the street was inaccessible for a pretty long time. Christmas shopping was a nightmare. Or am I just being a kill-joy?
Let us know what you think?
News link: Irish Independent (free subscription required)
      

Arnotts photograph taken by Diarmuid on Flickr

Dublin City Council has announced a series of disruptions to water supplies in a number of areas across the northside.

From 10pm on Thursday 14th September to 12pm noon on Friday 15th September 2006
In order to facilitate essential major works in Ballycoolin Reservoir to improve the water service it will be necessary to shutdown your water supply. As a result, the following areas and their surrounds will experience severe pressure reduction with a total loss of water in most areas.

To the north of Collins Avenue West and from Swords Rd west to Finglas
Cappagh All of Finglas
Poppintree Glasnevin North
Belclare Pelletstown
Sandyhill Coultry
Balcurris Shangan
Shanowen Lorcan
Magenta Aulden Grange
And all surrounding areas

Dublin City Council apologizes for any inconvenience caused as a result of these essential works but with your co-operation and understanding we hope to keep the disruption to a minimum.
Water is precious. Let’s conserve it. – Tá uisce luachmhar. Caomhnaímís é.
Emergency Numbers: 01-2224220 (Office Hours)
01-2224221 (Office Hours)
01-6796186 (After Hours)

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