Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----and neglect in this country, and which is demolishing half of its own estate now because of dereliction and poor management, to be the motor of Dublin urban renewal. I ask the Members of this House to go and look at Ballymun after its so-called regeneration. It is a bleak place. It is no more a community now than it ever was in the past.

If one wants to regenerate cities, one must build to a greater density.If we are to build to a greater density, attacking public open spaces is the wrong thing to do. Private enterprise and local authorities cannot regenerate Dublin adequately. There must be a specific agency tasked with that function and it must have powers to compulsorily acquire private property and regenerate precincts, streets and the like according to plans. This is not novel. It was done in the 18th and 19th centuries by the Wide Streets Commission. It is time we returned to decent urban planning in Dublin and abandoned the low hanging fruit of soft options that are irrelevant in the context of what Dublin needs.