Dolphin’s Barn residents protest lack of local improvements

On a bitterly cold Thursday evening in late November, 100 local residents from Dolphin’s Barn took to the streets.

The reason for their mid-winter protest? A feeling of being left behind by Dublin City Council.

The Back of the Pipe’s Resident’s Association organised the protest, highlighting that other local areas have received upgrades and attention from Dublin City Council under a 2018 plan to upgrade or renew all footpaths and carriageways locally.

The proposed works to the public footpath and carriageway would occur on Haroldville Avenue, the vehicular entrance to Dolphin House from South Circular Road, Dolphins Barn, Dolphins Barn Street, South Circular Road, St James Terrace, and Reuben Avenue.

The site is generally bounded by the Grand Canal to the south, Haroldville Avenue/ Dolphin House to the west, South Circular Road to the east and Dolphins Barn Street to the north. 

Nothing from the 2018 series of recommendations has been implemented.

The resident’s association has previously lobbied for Weaver Park and the skate bowl on Cork Street and are now looking to improve local infrastructure in Dolphin’s Barn itself.

They said that Dublin City Council has failed to deliver on long-promised plans to further improve the public realm with a village enhancement scheme at Dolphin’s Barn, including road and footpath upgrades.

Residents have expressed concern they have been left in the lurch.

Third-generation Dolphin’s Barn resident Michael Judd said “Dolphin’s Barn has been harmed by the ineffective policies of some Dublin City Council officers, who are not accountable for their decisions.”

He says that dereliction has been allowed to continue in Dolphin’s Barn unabated and that the council must be held accountable for allowing this to happen unchallenged.

Speaking to Southside People, Judd said that the group are willing to protest for as long as needed and the group are seeking a one-on-one meeting with Dublin City Council boss Richard Shakespeare.

He remarked that he has lived in the area for over 40 years and the footpaths have not been upgraded in that time.

Judd expressed frustration that areas surrounding Rialto Church have received upgrades in recent years but Dolphin’s Barn remains in a suspended state of animation.

With Dolphin’s Barn being in the vicinity of the expensive National Children’s Hospital, Judd said he was surprised that Dolphin’s Barn is not 

Despite the frustration at the situation, Judd said the mood at the protest was “positive,” and was hopeful of the movement gathering more momentum.

He asserted that people who make decisions on behalf of Dublin City Council do not live in inner city areas and as such, do not have an insight about the needs of local residents.

In most cities with a directly-elected mayor, as is seen in the majority of other European cities, residents would be able to demand a meeting with an elected representative but this is not the case in Dublin.

The excuse given by Dublin City Council boils down to “a lack of staffing resources” to improve the standard of roads and footpaths around Dolphin’s Barn.

The scheme has been listed for a number of years in Dublin City Council’s Capital Programme and is also one of the projects supported by the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund. 

Local Green TD Patrick Costello attended the protest, and said “I doubt this will be the last such protest until Dublin City Council does the work.”

He noted that the village improvement plan has already been improved, and it was now a matter of Dublin City Council to implement it.

Sinn Féin councillor Máire Devine was among those at the protest and said “I was previously advised that the Dolphin’s Barn project was on a ‘priority list‘ and that the roads design and construction division intended to look at the scheme in 2025 but that has now been placed on the back-burner.”

“Dolphins Barn has suffered decades of neglect and deprivation- it has lost its sense of a “village” while other areas were prioritised; if any area requires TLC, it’s the Barn.”

Devine raised the issue at the most recent Local Area Committee meeting, but said that the group would also put the pressure on any local elected reps who are elected in the November 29 election to raise the issue in the Dáil.

The meeting was told that Dolphin’s Barn was “not a priority” for Dublin City Council management.

Social Democrats councillor Jen Cummins said, “everyone wants the improvements to happen.”

She remarked that because of the area Dolphin’s Barn is based in, it does not get the same attention as other parts of the city.”

“There is a feeling we are forgotten about,” she said, saying there is a feeling that the area is “going backwards.”

Cummins also raised the issue at the meeting and as a local councillor “all I can do is ask a local area manager who can say yea or nay,” which is frustrating for local residents and elected representatives alike.

“It is frustrating to be told by management that these works aren’t a priority; it very cleary is for local residents.”