Redeveloping Portobello Plaza

A chara, – Further to “Dublin’s Portobello Plaza to be redesigned under €2.6 million pedestrian plan” (News, December 13th), you correctly state that the area became a scene of antisocial behaviour during lockdown.

The plaza was one of the very few places for socialisation for thousands of residents in the vicinity, especially for migrant workers and young people in the overcrowded flats and former bedsits of Rathmines, the South Circular Road and Harolds Cross.

The antisocial element that came in was the refusal of Dublin City Council to provide any sanitation, very little extra refuse collection, no extra policing and no plan for regulating alcohol use in the area.

Instead it locked the place off under the promise of “redevelopment”, and made no other facilities available for residents at a time when open areas, nature and socialisation were key for health, safety and sanity. – Is mise,