The Dublin Community Blog

Just back from Paris (and our ill fated rugby match!) and I have to say we were all VERY impressed with the bicycle rental scheme that’s going on there! I had heard something about it on the news here before we left, and we were really looking forward to seeing how it will take off in Dublin.

SO how will they stop the knick-knacks sending them to a watery grave I hear you ask!

The way it works in Paris is: you go to one of the many bicycle stations (situated within a 300 meter radius of each other) pop in your credit card to lay down a deposit of €150 and then you purchase your ticket. You can purchase all manner of subscriptions to suit the length of your visit. The locals use a ‘smart’ card that you just swipe and go! Each journey is free for the first 30 mins, so what they are encouraging you do to do is use the bike to get to your destination and pop it back in the station. It keeps a majority of the bicycles in circulation for people to use.

It made getting around Paris a doddle – from the top of Rue St Denis to the Rive Gauche in jig time!

The bicycles themselves are tamper-proof, un-deflatable tyres with three gears and the essential bell to warn pedestrians of your arrival! We couldn’t find that much information about the Dublin scheme, but it seems like the same company are behind it. JC Decaux are footing the bill in exchange for a number of adverting spots around the city.

Last week, I found myself back in Dublin along with thousands of other students looking for a flat. I had been discarded by the Trinity accomodation services and was fortunate enough to have to look for a room in September, the most competitive of months in this respect. My search was crowned in success in under 4 days, but I realised along the way that it is extremely difficult to find somewhere that is both affordable and acceptable, and that prices have been steadily rising since I moved here in 2003.

Finding a place to live in Dublin is akin to a theatrical audition/beauty pageant. It is all about making a lasting first impression which will convince a landlord of your ability to pay the rent and keep a place clean. In these circumstances, being a student evidently does not help, and one is inevitably thanked for one’s interest upon delivering this news in an apologetic fashion. As if being a student wasn’t compatible with normality and responsibility, even more so for us male students who are deemed more likely to burn a house down at the end of a 4-day binge.

Initially, my search took me to public viewings along with dozens of other punters. Once I had shown interest in overpriced bedsits due to a lack of alternatives, I went through the usual rejection process whereby overwhelmed landlords rejected me based on prejudiced first impressions, choosing the most ‘respectable’ of candidates instead (ie. a young professional, a shit-for-brains accountant who likes getting ‘trolleyed’ 3 night a week, living solely for the weekend). Some use scare tactics, doubling or tripling the required deposits to narrow the field down. One memorable character took advantage of the situation and opened a bidding war: “Whoever gives me the most money gets the place.” In this world, students don’t have a chance. 

Eventually, it becomes clear that second-tier housing is the only remaining option to us low-lives. Here is proof: one letting agent, unaware of my student stigma due to my English accent (which, surprisingly, helps!), told me over the phone that he did have a 2 bedroom flat available but that he couldn’t really show it to me because it could only really be rented to students, and would I please wait for something more suitable to come up, please? So we worthless human beings are left with so-called ‘student housing’, synonymous with ’shit-rundown-cold-dreary-overpriced’. Some of the places on the market are appalling, and it is commonly thought that a student should be grateful enough to be given somewhere to live, and should accept whatever is thrown his way.

The solution, it seems, is for everyone to engage in a show of solidarity with the student population of our wonderful city, and give up all rented housing, and squat in the city centre until all accomodation is done up to standard. Then, and only then, should places be re-allocated randomly, and life can resume. Until then, I will carry on paying 650 Euros a month for the right to live in a damp, dark, dump in Dublin. Savage.         

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to stop in at a brilliant new(ish) art gallery in Dublin called Gallery Number One across from Leo Burdock’s chippy. It’s got a cool vibe with chairs and sofas to lounge around in and flip through the art books or surf the internet on the gallery computer and check out the latest on DublinBlog.ie. =) There’s an obvious music theme that connects much of the work on display. (Their website even lists their Last.Fm profile.) Art and music . . . seems like a winning combination for Dublin!

One of the most popular, and debated posts on our blog is a post by Heidi, about changes to the work permit system in Ireland. If you’re not following comments closely, you may be missing out on a debate that you wish to add your voice to, so, I thought I would highlight the fact that the post is here

Final-year TCD student from Paris, France.

A garda is in hospital after being shot while on duty in Dublin this morning. The Traffic Corps motorcycle officer stopped a stolen car on Ossory Road, Dublin 1, shortly after 9am.

I imagine some roads around Amiens St, North Strand, Alfie Byrne Rd will be closed. Heres a map of the area. What a scary world we live in.

Further updates from the following links:

RTE

eircom.net

Garda website

Just heard on the radio that today is Car Free Day when people are encouraged to leave their cars at home and take public transport. Parnell Square East, Merrion Square West and the main road through Herbert Park will be closed to traffic with events taking place on all of them. The radio mentioned that Parnell Square will have music and bands, Merrion will have skateboarding and break-dancing and Herbert Part will have a display of steam engines.

Dublin Fire Brigade and the army bomb disposal unit are at the scene of a fire at gates of the Phoenix Park. A pit of chemical phosphorous was exposed on a building site on Infirmary Road. The site used to be part of a military base, I wonder if it is an old British one with phosphorous buried there since World War I? The fire is out now but there is still a risk that more phosphorous could ignite. Traffic in the area is being diverted through the Phoenix Park.

If anyone is in the area with a camera they might get some cool and interesting photographs, if they can get a view of the site, but don’t do anything silly, phosphorous is dangerous.

It was confirmed today that the Green Luas line will be further extended from the still to be completed terminus in Cherrywood all the way out to Bray. It is hoped that the line will be completed by 2015.

The Bray Chamber are naturally delighted, but, being devils advocate, I have to ask if this is really the best way to extend the Luas? After all Bray is currently served by the Dart, which the Luas will interconnect with in Bray as well as at the new inter-connector to be built at St Stephens Green. I wonder would other parts of Dublin have been better served by a new rail/tram link than Bray? Does anyone feel their area is getting overlooked in the public transport plans?

A common money maker for sporting clubs these days is to sell the naming rights of their home ground – the JJB, Reebok Stadium, Walkers Stadium. It seems the Lansdowne Road Stadium Development Company (IRFU and the FAI) are going down this route. The chairman, Philip Browne, announced at a media briefing yesterday:

At the briefing Browne also announced the appointment of the US specialist company Wasserman Media Group (WMG) who have been appointed to evaluate and ultimately market the naming rights for the new stadium. WMG were responsible for the deal between Arsenal FC and Emirates Airlines which combined stadium naming rights with a shirt deal.

Personally I think its disappointing but I suppose I should stop being sentimental and move with the times.

How does KitKat Crescent grab you?