Dublin City Centre must be at centre of outdoor dining strategy

Following the announcement of the Government’s new public health measures, Fine Gael Dublin City Councillors say now is the time to start delivering outdoor dining and outdoor culture in our city centre.

The call from Fine Gael Dublin City Councillors comes as Government and Fáilte Ireland announce details of The Outdoor Dining Enhancement Scheme, a new €17million Scheme for developing outdoor dining capacity nationwide.

The Councillors said: “The Government has signalled that in 6-8 weeks’ time, public health restrictions will be relaxed further. Now is the time to emulate the ambitious changes that have taken place in cities like Madrid and Paris and bring back the craic to Dublin city.

“We have written to the Chief Executive of Dublin City Council seeking the establishment of a cross-departmental taskforce that would work with restaurants, musicians, artists, and our retail traders to help deliver a City Centre Recovery Plan. The city centre needs more space for pedestrians and room for outdoor dining as well as for artists and performers.

“College Green, Merrion Row, South William Street, Dawson Street, George’s Street, Capel Street, Liffey Street and even O’Connell Street, need to be looked at as places free from car traffic, for both outdoor dining and the creation of spaces for our artists to perform.

“Our restaurants, pubs, and artists, as well as city centre retail traders, have overwhelmingly borne the brunt of the economic wrecking ball of Covid-19.

“We owe it to our businesses, our performers and to Dubliners to do all that we can to bring some soul back to our city.”