Latest news with #CatherineStocker
Irish Independent
03-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Casual trading is being expanded to more areas of Dublin
Locations like the Docklands, O'Connell Street, Foster Place, and Portobello Harbour are all set to play host to casual trading activities. While spots like the top of Grafton Street, Coppinger Row, Store Street, Wolfe Tone Park and Heuston Station are set to be de-designated for casual traders, due a lack of demand in some cases and street reconfiguration in others. Casual trading is where a trader uses a public road or designated casual trading area to sell their goods. Examples around Dublin include jewellery and fashion stalls on Liffey Street Lower, and fruit and veg stalls and flower sellers on Marlborough Street. The changes are taking place because the council is aiming to 'support outdoor city life' and 'promote vibrant and safe street markets', according to DCC senior executive David Forde. 'Since the pandemic we've looked at increasing some of the spaces that are in use,' he told councillors at last week's Planning and Urban Regeneration Special Policy Committee. This, he said, had changed how the council looked at usage of outdoor space in the core city area. Social Democrats councillor Catherine Stocker said she liked the idea of bringing stalls to Foster Place, which sits alongside the Bank of Ireland building on College Green. 'I think that would be a really good spot for what it's worth. It's kind of dead space there as it currently is and it could be brought back to life,' she said. Mr Forde also confirmed that the council was considering the new college Green plaza for casual trading, saying 'initial discussions' were being held with the project team. Along with the addition and removal of some casual trading areas, more adjustments are taking place around trading times and the introduction of new themed markets. ADVERTISEMENT Learn more Those designated themed spaces are on Portobello Harbour, Moore Street, Thorncastle Street, College Green and Newmarket, and respond to a demand for 'event-driven' markets, according to DCC. The casual trading bye-laws will now be reviewed by councillors, and a public consultation will be carried out before they are finalised. The additional spaces where casual trading will be allowed are: Foster Place Portobello Harbour Docklands Area O'Connell Street Merrion Square South Cow's Lane Meeting House Square/Curved Street Moore Street (evening market) Temple Bar Square (improved) The areas de-designated where casual trading will no longer be allowed are: Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
Irish Times
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
U-turn on Grafton Street toilets as council reverses ‘ludicrous' closure plan
Dublin City Council has reversed plans to remove the city centre's last public toilets following opposition from all city councillors, who described the move as 'ludicrous' and 'abhorrent'. The council had planned to shut down the toilets installed five years ago at the top of Grafton Street , citing reduced demand. It had been spending almost €400,000 a year to operate the toilets, put at the St Stephen's Green end of Grafton Street during the Covid-19 pandemic. The current owner and operator of the toilets was going out of business and the council said it would draw up proposals for replacement toilets, but these were not expected to be in place until summer of 2026. Green Party councillor Claire Byrne, at a council meeting on Monday, said the 'ongoing failure of this city to provide basic services to meet a basic human right' was 'abhorrent'. The council had had five years to procure alternative toilets, she said, but had also been discussing the issue since before she was elected in 2014. READ MORE 'Very little, next to nothing, has been done, yet we were happy spending €400,000 a year for this unit and not looking for a long-term solution.' There was, she said, a 'very clear demand, every single person needs to pee'. Her Green Party colleague Hazel Chu said that when she was lord mayor she let people use the toilet in the Mansion House. The council should open up public buildings with toilets for the public to use, she said. Social Democrats councillor Catherine Stocker said it was 'ludicrous and exhausting this most basic and simple of things cannot be sorted by Dublin City Council'. Independent councillor Mannix Flynn pointed out that public toilets had been part of the original contract with advertising company JC Decaux for the Dublinbikes scheme, 'but somewhere along the line an official in this council took that stipulation out of the contract'. Labour councillor Dermot Lacey said it was a 'fundamental responsibility of a city or county council to provide toilets'. He noted that toilets had been included in countless council budgets but not implemented due to insufficient funds. 'Nearly €2 million has been spent on this one toilet,' he said. 'People are laughing at Dublin city over this.' [ Dublin city centre's only public toilets to be closed Opens in new window ] Derek Kelly, director of service with the council, told councillors officials had 'worked out a solution' over the weekend to keep the Grafton Street facility open 'while in tandem we try to develop and finalise an ongoing solution for toilets within the city centre'. The current operator 'is liquidating, that has pushed the situation, they want to cease the service', he said. However, the council would see if it could persuade the company to continue until replacement toilets were in place next year, and if not, would buy the toilets and appoint a new operator, Mr Kelly said. The council had initially opened toilets at two locations in 2020, the second at Wolfe Tone Square on the city's northside. The northside toilets were subsequently relocated to Ryder's Row off Capel Street but were decommissioned in 2022, with the council citing 'complaints of antisocial behaviour in the area and low usage'.
