City councillors write to Lord Mayor requesting meeting on ‘Outdoor Summer’

Five Dublin City Councillors have sought an urgent meeting of Dublin City Council calling on the executive to extensively outline its plans for an ‘outdoor summer’.

“While Dublin City Council has announced additional toilets and bins in locations across the south and north of the city centre, and this is welcome, the very fact that this is celebrated as some sort of win is a damning indictment on preparation for an ‘outdoor summer’,” say the group of councillors.

The councillors say that “we urgently need updates from the council on pedestrianisation and the widening of footpaths for outside dining to support bars, restaurants and cafes.

“We need commitments that public spaces, such as Portobello Plaza, will not be closed off to the public who are doing their best to socialise outdoors safely.”

Kevin Donoghue (Lab, South-East Inner City), Jane Horgan-Jones (Lab, Clontarf), Declan Meenagh (Lab, Cabra-Glasnevin), Darragh Moriarty (Lab, South-West Inner City) and Sophie Nicoullaud (Ind, Ballyfermot-Drimnagh), have written to Lord Mayor Hazel Chu seeking the convening of a public meeting of Dublin City Council with the objective of discussing the proposed plans Dublin City Council have for an ‘outdoor summer.’

“Specifically, the meeting would discuss how we can manage publicly accessible space for the summer period and invite presentations from the COVID Mobility Team, the City Recovery Task Force and, a response from the relevant Senior Dublin City Council officials.

“An Garda Siochana would also be invited to present how they can support plans for an ‘outdoor summer’.

“People have been cooped up for months as we have all supported the national effort to bring down, and keep down, COVID-19 cases.

“The intensification of the vaccine roll out has led to an easing of restrictions and there is now hope and light at the end of the pandemic tunnel,” says Donoghue.

“The city’s economy has been decimated with our hospitality industry on its knees, it is important to increase the amount of publicly available space and enhance the public realm,” he says.

“In April of this year, Dublin City Council announced its ‘City Recovery Taskforce’.

“There is a clear frustration among the public about how some things have developed in recent weeks.

“The June Bank Holiday weekend is upon us, hotels are opening, outside dining is supposed to be returning but for many small cafes, bars and restaurants, they won’t be able to reopen unless they can avail of outside dining.” says Darragh Moriarty.

“We are urgently seeking this meeting to give councillors the opportunity to engage fully with the proposed plans from the City Recovery Taskforce, to give a constructive platform to some of the public frustration and to understand why, despite work that is ongoing, there is a fear of more services bringing more people to the city.

“Surely, the point of this task force is to find ways this can be done safely.” he said.

Sophie Nicoullaud said: “This pandemic has highlighted the importance people place in the space directly outside their door, in their local area and in their local amenities and community.

“While we have seen some effort made to facilitate outdoor gathering in the city centre, nothing has been put in place in residential areas on the outside such as Drimnagh, Walkinstown, Ballyfermot, Chapelizod, Inchicore and Bluebell.

“People are working from home; children are already on holidays for some and they are, and will be home during the summer.”