02/10/2026
The North Wall Deserves Investment (as the Government plan to spend up to 150 Million transforming the GPO)-Northwall Community Association . Press release statement re the Dublin City Rejuvenation Task Force.
To Whom It May Concern,
Ahead of tomorrow mornings Dublin City Task Force Interim Advisory Boards meeting the Northwall Community Association is asking what exactly is the clear plan ( if any ) regarding the Task Force’s rejuvenation vision for the O Connell St / city centre area. With a supposed budget of up to and possibly over €150 million community groups within the NEIC area are asking what positive impact ( if any ) is this rejuvenation plan going to have on their areas, or is the sole function of the Task Force to just concentrate on O Connell St and the business areas without attempting to address the engrained social problems in adjoining communities like Sean mc Dermot St , Dominic St , SummerHill , Ballybough , Portland Row and Sheriff St . All these areas sit within short walking distance from O Connell St and all suffer from massive drug addiction / anti social issues which are part of the contributing causes of the negative problems in the city centre, is there a plan to include the addiction services projects and childcare centres etc in the €100’s of millions of funding that the city task force is going to have access to ? Is a proper and effective policing plan for the NEIC area going to be implemented as part of the rejuvenation plan ? If not then it’s the view not just of the Northwall Community Association but of most NEIC groups that spending €100’s of millions on sprucing up O Connell St and it’s business streets without recognising the surrounding social problems will do nothing to lessen the impact of the anti-social issues that are plaguing the city centre area. Following on from the Regency Hotel attack and Hutch / Kinihan feud 10 years ago and the subsequent efforts made by Kieran Mulvey to address the inner city’s crime / drug problems very little has changed, apart from a lull in shootings / murders over the past couple of years it’s been business as usual regarding drugs and anti-social behaviour, in fact services within the city centre agree that the drug addiction problem has gotten much worse than ever before, Crack Co***ne has a massive grip on the city and is not letting go. This is why the advisory board has to recommend to the task force that simply concentrating on the O Connell St area and neglecting the very obvious surrounding areas problems is a recipe for failure over the next few years. Is there any voice on the advisory board or task force who will speak the plain truth to the other members that they have a moral responsibility to all the people of the city not just the business sector , or will we just like before be asking the same question again in 10 years time as to What went wrong. The reality is you can pump all the money you want into the O Connell St area but if you don’t acknowledge and address the serious problems affecting it then it won’t make any difference and over time will just deteriorate back to its current state . Mark Fay Northwall Community Association
