Dublin Chamber recently welcomed David McRedmond, CEO of An Post and Independent Chair of the Dublin Taskforce, to address members. McRedmond outlined the taskforce’s primary objectives, which aim to make Dublin a better place to live, work and visit through focusing on eight key areas - safety, mobility, public realm, living, work and commerce, nightlife, health, and visiting. The taskforce is set to conclude at the end of the summer break and will deliver concrete recommendations to Government for improving Dublin’s City centre. This event offered Dublin Chamber members an opportunity to highlight key issues relevant to their business’, particularly regarding rising concerns around safety and cleanliness in the City.
Throughout August, Dublin Chamber continued to highlight member concerns regarding Dublin’s public realm and met with Lord Mayor of Dublin, James Geoghegan, to discuss the issue at large. During the meeting, Dublin Chamber highlighted safety as a rising issue within Dublin's business community. In Q1 of last year, safety was selected as a top concern by 7% of Dublin businesses. This increased to 31% by Q4, making it the largest increase over the nine-month period. Dublin Chamber’s most recent survey report shows that public safety remains a top concern for Dublin businesses in 2024, only being out ranked by housing and transport which are continually the most pressing concerns among the business community. Dublin Chamber remains committed to advocating for improved safety measures in the City and engaging with the Lord Mayor, as well as our four Local Authorities, on this issue.
In parallel, with the draft review of the NPF currently open for public consultation and closing next month, Dublin Chamber will be submitting on this framework once again. Like our previous submission to Government, Dublin Chamber will emphasise the need to support current and future growth in Dublin and call out artificial limits imposed on sustainable and compact growth in the Greater Dublin Area. The NPF plays a crucial role in determining capital spending across various government departments, including DPENDR and the Department of Housing, which Dublin Chamber has been actively engaging with, having met Minister Paschal Donohoe and Minister Darragh O' Brien over the summer break. Dublin Chamber will continue to engage with these key stakeholders as we develop our submission and if you have any questions or comments, please contact us at policy@dublinchamber.ie.
As part of our lobby efforts in improving Dublin’s connectivity and congestion issues, we hosted a meeting with Brendan O’Brien, Executive Manager for Traffic in Dublin City Council on the upcoming traffic changes on the City’s quays and how this would affect businesses in the City. Throughout this process we continued to find a constructive solution with DCC to ensure that the plans would be successful for all users of the City. The traffic restrictions on Aston Quay and Bachelors Walk come into effect on the 25th of August, where bus gates will be in place from 7am to 7pm.
With a General Election most likely to be held before December this year, our preparations for this are well underway. As part of this we are in the process of updating our Business Priorities document to reflect the current needs of members and would welcome any feedback you have on issues that are impacting your business. Another strand of our Election preparation is meeting the people in political parties who frame their manifestos, these meetings are well under way and will continue in advance of the election being called. As always if you have any specific issues you would like us to raise, please do not hesitate to contact us directly.