Dorset Street community unites to build a better place to live and work

The District 7 Community Alliance, which represents seven residents associations in the inner city area, won the Community Resilience (City) Category.

Since 2017, the group has been working on plans to rejuvenate the locality and create a vibrant urban village.

“There was a big concentration of massage parlours on Dorset Street – there were about nine of them along the road. One day, the kids were getting off the bus and there was a man getting serviced by one of the women in a lane.

“The residents said enough is enough, and we got together and picketed every one of the parlours. The guards got involved and the last parlour was raided by the gardaí, immigration, Dublin City Council and the Revenue,” revealed District 7 Alliance chairman Tony Kelly.

Encouraged by the success of that campaign, residents contacted their local public representatives to find out what else could be done to improve their neighbourhood.

Tony continued: “We had a meeting with Brendan Kenny (former Deputy Chief Executive of Dublin City Council), the residents and business association, and told him how we thought the street was going. He told us: ‘I’m going to put €25,000 on the table for you to get an architect and put a plan together for Dorset Street from the ground up’. He saw that we had something rare in the city – the businesses and residents working together.”

Together with local architects Kelliher Miller, who Tony says have “a great grá for the area”, the group put together the Dorset Street Together Plan over the course of 18 months.

In October 2018, an exhibition was held at 54-55 Upper Dorset St to present the draft Community Plan and invite feedback from the wider community. The pop-up shop ran for two months and was visited by over 700 people.

“Too many chippers”, unattractive shopfronts, a lack of on-street parking, the closure of two community centres, and traffic problems are just some of the issues that the plan set out to tackle.

Tony remarked: “We lost both of our community centres during Covid. One was sold and the council closed the other one. You have TDs and councillors saying we have to integrate, but where are we supposed to do it? That’s another battle for another day. We’re hoping to get the council community centre reopened.”

The concrete central median strip along the street is also “a bone of contention”, according to Tony. The plan suggests removing the central median to create space for wider footpaths, new cycle lanes, and parking bays.

It also suggests guidelines for improvements to shopfront designs and facades, and measures to restore and conserve the area’s Georgian and Victorian architectural heritage.

The creation and improvement of green spaces in the district forms a core part of the plan, including the development of a mini plaza, a micropark, and a ‘quiet village centre’.

The plan also includes a proposal for the creation of a ‘National Botanical Way’, which it describes as “a specially enhanced pedestrian route from Parnell Square linking to the Botanic Gardens via Blessington Street and Basin”.

The document raises the issue of ‘transience’ as one of the challenges facing the neighbourhood, pointing out the high number of AirBnb properties and student accommodation around Dorset Street.

It also lists the “lack of mixed-use” businesses as a problem in the area, alongside photos of several local takeaway shopfronts.

A 2021 article by the Dublin Inquirer highlighted concerns from the proprietors of some migrant-run food outlets, where they spoke of a lack of consultation on the Dorset Street Together Plan.

According to Tony, the businesses are “well-represented” on the business association by local restaurant and deli owner Tom McKeon and were given the opportunity to join the association.

“When we held the open days, a few of the businesses were worried it would cause their rents to go up. We told them we want to try to encourage more businesses to open up on the street. A few of them don’t want to see any change happen on the street.

“Dublin City Council even introduced them to their Shopfront Improvement Scheme, but there was very little take-up of it among the takeaways,” he said.

As Dorset Street is one of the principal thoroughfares to the city centre from Dublin Airport and the M1, the group also came up with a concept for a ‘Gateway to the City’ festival.

“In 2019 We went back and asked Brendan Kenny if we could have a festival, and he said ‘No problem’. So we established the ‘Gateway to the City’ festival for Dorset Street and the area around it. We expected about 1,000 to 1,500 people, but about 6,000 people attended,” explained Tony.

The festival has not been held since 2019 due to the pandemic, but Tony says Dublin City Council “has promised that the Gateway to the City festival will be back up and running”.

The implementation of the plan has faced a number of setbacks. As well as a global pandemic, a shakeup of electoral areas saw the District 7 neighbourhood moved to the Cabra-Glasnevin district. In early 2022, the Greater Dorset Street Together Plan was again put before the local authority, and was approved by the 14 councillors from the new electoral division.

Dorset Street certainly lives up to its ‘Gateway to the City’ label, and features in both Bus Connects – the National Transport Authority’s plan for a new bus network around the city – and Metro North plans, which complicates matters slightly.

Therefore, a working group made up of representatives from each of the groups and organisations was established.

“We had our first meeting before Christmas where we went through the plan. Bus Connects is specific to Dorset Street so a group was set up for Dorset Street separate from the other areas around it.

Bus Connects and the traffic department took away the plans and they’re going to come back to us and see what can be done,” said Tony.
After several years of planning, campaigning and setbacks, residents are yet to see any of the points on the plan make the transition from paper to pavement.

With all the relevant groups now finally taking the Dorset Street Together Plan into consideration, those living in this much-loved part of Dublin are hopeful their vision will eventually become reality.

Tony concluded: “This has been going on six or seven years now. Brendan Kenny had a vision from the beginning, and the architects are still on board with us.

“It’s a very strong community. A lot of us have been here a long time. My wife’s family are here three or four generations. People have deep roots in the area. And then you get new people coming in, and they bring a new aspect to it too. There’s a real love for the area.”