Sir, – Recently, Fáilte Ireland and the Department of Tourism expressed concern that Dublin is falling behind cities such as Edinburgh and Copenhagen as a tourist destination.
The comments by Davis Norris (“David Norris says areas of Dublin city centre derelict”, November 25th) explain why.
As a Dubliner, I am constantly struck by the level of dereliction and by the number of vacant sites in the city centre compared to in any other European capital city. The building that housed Gill’s Bookshop in O’Connell Street was destroyed in 1981, and the site remains derelict 33 years later. The top end of the city’s main street is a mixture of vacant sites, and a lot of ugly architecture built in the last third of the 20th century.
The centres of Edinburgh and of Copenhagen are intact and well-maintained, with attractive shopfronts and a complete absence of the ugly steel shuttering that characterises much of Dublin’s shopping streets.
People live above shops in these cities but this is not the case in Dublin, where the upper floors of many buildings are unused.
A lot of work needs to be done on the city centre and its immediate environs in order to make the city an attractive place to visit, or indeed, as David Norris points out, for Dubliners to wander around.
A levy of up to 5 per cent annually on all vacant buildings or derelict sites, as proposed by Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly, might encourage their owners to develop or sell them.
In Dublin, the rights of property owners is more important than the common good. – Yours, etc, DAVID MacPHERSON Clontarf, Dublin 3. Sir, – In the light of Dublin Corporation’s proposal to pedestrianise an area at the Bank of Ireland building in College Green, hopefully they will also turn their attention to the streetcape in the adjacent area outside the beautiful building housing Pearse Street Garda station.
This wonderful building cannot be properly enjoyed – viewed, photographed, or sketched – because of the sea of vehicles parked outside, two and invariably three rows deep from the footpath.
How this situation has been allowed to happen in the very centre of our capital city is baffling.
This area should be restored to public use and “softened” with for example landscaping, a fountain or seating. – Yours, etc. TOM KENNEDY, Milltown, Dublin 6.