It has taken the best part of a decade, but this week’s announcement of plans for the Grow College Green civic plaza is a significant moment for the capital. If all goes to plan – and given the tortuous history of this project, that caveat is necessary – Dublin will finally have the elegant civic space it deserves.
Dublin City Council first sought planning permission for a College Green plaza in 2017. An Bord Pleanála rejected it in 2018, primarily because of concerns about the displacement of bus services. The idea languished while the BusConnects network redesign inched through its own protracted process. Now, with bus rerouting resolved, the council has returned with a bolder scheme: an ¤80 million, 17,000 square metre pedestrian-priority space extending from the front of Trinity College to South Great George’s Street.
This is all welcome. But it must also be noted that Dublin now lags well behind comparable European cities in reclaiming its historic centre from traffic. From Copenhagen to Barcelona, from Oslo to Bordeaux, cities across the continent have spent the past two or three decades systematically pedestrianising their cores, recognising that the liveability, attractiveness and economic vitality of a city centre depends on making it a place for people rather than vehicles.
The transformation of College Green and Dame Street, when completed, will arguably be the single most important contribution to making the city centre fit for the 21st century. It will restore a sense of civic grandeur to a space framed by two of the finest buildings in Ireland, which, despite the current restrictions on private vehicles, remains a messy, noisy, congested traffic interchange.
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It is disappointing that it could take until 2030 to complete the transformation. That is a reminder of how much time has been lost. But the direction of travel, at last, is the right one. Dubliners should engage with the public consultation, which runs until March 11th, and make their voices heard on a project the city cannot afford to fumble again.
