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No Christmas Market at St. Stephen’s Green in 2015?

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
No Christmas Market at St. Stephen’s Green in 2015?

Last year Dublintown pushed the Christmas Market at St. Stephen’s Green in a big way and with massive goals.

I quote “Dublin’s first city centre traditional Christmas market expected to attract an additional 600,000 visitors and generate up to EUR 20 million in revenue for Dublin businesses, creating 150 seasonal jobs.” and I remember even reading that Dublin will in a few years be a top Christmas market destination for tourists.

Well, it didn’t happen! Traders were very unhappy with the market, but on top of that it didn’t attract the masses and it certainly wasn’t a Christmas market any Christmas market expert would write home about. So many things were done wrongly! The location was wrong, the stall selection was wrong, the food business was the wrong one. I could go on and on. (Maybe I should provide my services as Christmas Market Consultant! ;-) Dublin needs one!)

Yesterday Dublintown sent out their Press Release regarding Christmas 2015 and there is no word about a Christmas market in it.

The mess that the Luas work causes doesn’t help at or near St. Stephen’s Green , but Dublintown (which is the trader organisation for Dublin) didn’t listen to Samuel Beckett who said “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.” The experiment last year failed (to a degree), but it would be better to improve it than to give up, at least Mr Beckett thought so!

Dublin, Dublin City Council, ,

Long Boat Quay: Fire Safety, Dublin City and Incompetence

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Long Boat Quay: Fire Safety, Dublin City and Incompetence

Long Boat Quay is an apartment block on Sir Rogerson’s Quay that was built in 2006 by now-bankrupt builder Bernard McNamara and the building is now in the news because Dublin City has informed the residents that the apartment owners would have to pay EUR 4mio to make the building fire-proof or they will get evicted.

This is not the first time something like that is happening. Priory Hall in North Dublin is currently costing Dublin City 27mio to refurbish it and the residents were evicted there as well.

But how can something like that happen? Why are plans not checked before planning permission is given or before the building is built? Why is a building not checked before people are moving in to make sure that the building meets the specs? If efficient checks were part of the process at the right time, it should never happen that a building is later found inadequate!

Reading articles about Long Boat Quay, you wonder if the situation is not a good bit more complicated than it appears at first: Allegedly Dublin Fire Brigade gave the Ok for the building in 2011, but then seemingly withdrew this Ok in 2013. Could that be? That would be shocking and suddenly a large part of the fault would be with the Dublin Fire Brigade or Dublin City.

It also seems that where suddenly there is such a hurry now, last year things were seen less critical: The Irish Examiner writes that “an internal Dublin Fire Brigade report recommended the serving of a fire notice on Longboat Quay in May of last year”. So more than a year nothing happened and the building was not seen as dangerous, but now it is so urgent that the residents need to move out by 01 November?

The Irish Examiner article lists some of the defects that the Dublin Fire Brigade found, but when an RTE programme had a consultant engineer visit the place, he listed completely different issues. The engineer said here that the building had been fitted with a fire detection and warning system designed to “suit a suburban semi-detached house, not an apartment in a complex in the centre of Dublin”. And that “most of the doors in each apartment looked fire-resistant but had no fire or smoke seals” and he was “particularly concerned” about the fact that there is no door between the kitchen and living areas.

RTE’s engineer obviously has different eyes or had a different focus than the Dublin Fire Brigade, but if the engineer RTE got is right, then I better quickly look for a tent or a bridge to sleep under, because the apartment I live in is then definitely not safe: One single smoke alarm per apartment; no automatic smoke vents in the public area; no fire seals at apartment doors and the door to the kitchen has never been closed. My eviction notice must be in the post! And what about apartments where kitchen and dining room are one?

Are there maybe different standards applied? Or are the experts checking these newer apartments the type of Health&Safety nuts that get palpitations when someone uses a bread knife or lights a candle with an OPEN FLAME. *shock horror*

There is incompetence somewhere, but can we be certain that we have identified the contributor with the highest incompetence yet?

Very odd!!

Dublin, Dublin City Council, , , , ,

Pedestrianisation the wrong way! and How Dublin City rigs surveys!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Pedestrianisation the wrong way! and How Dublin City rigs surveys!

Dublin City asked us to help with some opinions about a Transport Study that suggests to dramatically change the City Centre traffic flow. The goal is to keep cars far away from the City Centre and to make the City more pedestrian friendly. To achieve that, parts of the Liffey Quays will be closed for traffic it the suggestions in the Study will be put in reality. In addition, big changes will happen to College Green, Westmoreland Street and D’Olier Street. I would like to say that they will pedestrianised, but that would be a lie because there are some odd things happening.

I drive a car and therefore have concerns when another one of the few Liffey crossings will be closed and the plan is to effectively close O’Connell Bridge, BUT I also cycle and I walk (and I use an Electric Unicycle…the coolest vehicle ever :-) ). So because of that, I am relatively open to positive changes. But if you read the study in detail you will see that we are not really told the full story.

Most of us think that pedestrianisation is good, but how would you feel if in peak hours Taxi drivers or buses are still allowed to drive through a pedestrianised area. Doesn’t make sense, right? The idea of pedestrianising an area is that walking people will NOT have to worry about non walking parties. That’s the reason why we don’t even allow a very slow bicycle to cycle through Grafton Street, But Dublin City doesn’t want to give you that. Noo, they say that Taxis and buses still need to drive through College Green. That doesn’t sound cool.And would it not makes sense then to at least let bicycles also use the area where buses and taxis are still allowed to endanger pedestrians?

I think it should be an ALL or nothing! I am in favour of pedestrianisation but only if that keeps all non-walking “traffic” out.

Dublin City then gave us an opportunity to submit our opinion about this study, well at least that’s what the claimed, but if you did reply then there was not a single question about the actual plans of closing parts of the quays, or only partially pedestrianising College Green instead the consultation questionnaire was rigged by asking questions that most would answer in a way Dublin City wants it.

Here are a few of the questions:

  • Do you think that reducing ‘through traffic’ will improve the amenity value of Dublin’s city centre?
  • Do you support the principle of giving commuters more transport choices when they decide to come to Dublin City Centre?
  • Are you in favour of high quality pedestrian facilities in the city centre?
  • Are you in favour of high quality cycle facilities in the city centre?

There were 10 questions all together. Not one really explained or asked about any details. There was no question that said “Do you think that closing the South Quays and the North Quays for traffic is the appropriate way to reduce traffic in the City Centre?” Instead only wishy washy questions like the four listed above were asked. Would anybody say NO to them? I doubt it.

Dublin City you rigged the questionnaire to get the answers that you wanted to get! Very disappointing!

Dublin, Traffic,

1916 Easter Rising celebrated on wrong day

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
1916 Easter Rising celebrated on wrong day

Do you and your family celebrate birthdays? Yes? I bet these birthdays are made up of a day and a month and a year. So, for example 12 June 1986 or 06 August 1952 and you might even remember some important events from your history classes or from recent events? The Second World War ended on 02 September 1945, and the attacks on the World Trade Centre happened on 11 September 2001. All very clear and internationally the same system is used. It is called a “date”!

But what about the 1916 Rising? Do you know when it happened? Sure, on Easter Monday! Come again? Easter Monday!

Easter is the only relevant, completely moveable feast in our calender. It could take place any time between 22 March and 25 April and is calculated based on moon and sun (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter#Date). In 725 the rule to determine the date of Easter was “The Sunday following the full Moon which falls on or after the equinox”. This was modified a little, but it still uses the same principle.

So, how about we celebrate your birthday instead of on 12 June 1986, on the first Tuesday after the full moon in the sixth month of the year? You would probably say that that is stupid, right?

But what about the Easter Rising in 1916? Yes, in 1916 it took place in Easter Monday, but does that justify to celebrate it every year on Easter Monday? ONLY if we can celebrate your birthday also based on the lunar-sun cycle!

The event in 1916 took place on 24 April 1916 not on 06 April as it is celebrated this year or on 28 March as the 100th anniversary is celebrated in 2016. And that does NOT make ANY sense at all!

Ohh and you might think the problem was because that many years ago, they gave the day more relevance than the date?! So in this day and age we should be smarter, right? Can I remind you of the “Good Friday Agreement”? Looks like an Irish problem!?

Dublin, Odd,

Dublin Christmas Light Proceedings – Odd from start to finish!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Dublin Christmas Light Proceedings – Odd from start to finish!

I don’t know where to start! There are so many weird and outright odd things about the Dublin Christmas Light Proceedings that I could write pages and pages.

But let’s start with the barriers in our city first. No, I am not talking about physical walls, they would be easy to take down. Instead I am talking about political, commercial and social walls! And they are here to stay!

Dublin City has THREE not one Christmas Lights event. Why? Because Northsiders can’t with Southsiders and vice versa and the traders organisation “Dublin Town” can’t do it with Dublin City and vice versa. So as a result there was a Switching on of Christmas Lights in Grafton Street on Thursday 13 November, one in Henry Street on Sunday 16 November and then there is the Christmas Tree in O’Connell Street, which will be switched on two weeks later on 30 November.
Doesn’t make sense in the slightest, but, hey, it is three mini festivals for people to go on the street, so I guess we shouldn’t complain.
Apart from that, the Christmas Tree Lighting is the main job of the year for the Lord Mayor and why would we need a powerless Lord Mayor if it wasn’t for switching on the Christmas Tree!?

They could press ONE button in the middle of O’Connell Bridge, but it seems that we are happy with the walls we have. – Oh, and I better shut up about the SEPARATE Christmas Lighting event just a stone-throw from the City Centre, at Smithfield, right?

The next odd thing is the timing and I am not growing tired from pointing this out year after year:
Bringing the Christmas Lights so much forward to mid-November can only be driven by the wish or hope to extend the Christmas buying period through this “trick.” The thinking must be that if people start buying two weeks earlier, they will spend more money throughout the 6 weeks up to Christmas. But is that really the case? I don’t know about you, but I still buy the initially intended number and type of presents for the people I need to get presents for. As it all culminates in that one event, there is no “buying more”. Even if the Christmas Shopping period (as defined by the lights) ran for 4 months, I would still buy the same number of presents. So a longer Shopping Period makes absolutely no sense from a commercial point of view with regards to present buying.

Where it might make sense is for people who come to the City and who normally wouldn’t come. No, this is not the country folk, this is tourists…in a few years time! Until last year Dublin City was void of a good Christmas Market. This year a new approach is taken and the Christmas Stall Row (It is one long row along St. Stephen’s Green, not a market in the usual sense.) still has to prove itself, but it could work and if it does, that’s a great thing. Mind you, though, visitors won’t know about it for a while because traditionally Dublin is void of good Christmas market and that is the reputation we have.

Will 600,000 additional visitors come to Dublin because of the Christmas market as Dublin Town claims? And will these 600k people leave EUR 20mio behind in shops, restaurants and hotels? Maybe in a few years time if the Dublin Christmas Market manages to become as good as the Nürnberg or Vienna Christmas Market, but until then, these figures are total nonsense.

BUT…Christmas is a great time of the year, so let’s enjoy it and let’s hope that the Christmas Market will be a big success!

Dublin, Odd, Society, Uncategorized,
 
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