A load of rubbish?
It is always hard to describe a city like Dublin. On one hand I think it wants to be as chic and exclusive as London, Paris and New York can be while at the same time it displays all the drudgery of a city that most upper class people would never go near in a million years.
Walk down the boardwalk on the quays and you’ll see that anything goes. People walking freely drinking from cans of beer and cider with no Garda presence to tell them to stop. We now even hear stories, and sometimes see for ourselves, of drug dealing taking place in broad daylight amongst the masses shuffling to and from work every day. In short if you were a tourist taking a look at this, from an outsiders point of view, you would not consider it a cultured city.
The main thing that comes across to me every time I am in and around Dublin (which is almost on a daily basis) is how filthy it is and how there seems to be a “couldn’t care less” attitude. This is not an environmental rant, because to be honest I’m not even going to start going there, but more of a common courtesy and decency plea.
I would have thought there should be some pride taken in the place people live and work, after all it is where the majority of all business deals, political and justice decisions are made. Yet there does not seem to be an emphasis on sorting this problem out. This “It will do for now” mentality mixed in with a sprinkling of “well it’s not my problem” could very well be a line coming from a tribunal, but let’s not go there.
A statement by Joanna Tuffy TD, the Labour Party spokesperson on the environment, states that Dublin is one of the dirtiest cities in Europe and that there are only “124 litter wardens employed on a full-time basis by councils across the country.” Ireland land of green fields and pastures and beautiful country surroundings may soon be replaced by pits of rubbish stinking up the cities and countryside.
Sounds like a beautiful image to me and maybe instead of starting to sort it out, the government will just issue us all clothes pegs to attach to our noses! Hey it’s worked with the iodine tablets!
We are already wondering and worrying about the sacrifices the Green Party seems to be making by getting into bed with Fianna Fail and I suppose time will tell whether they will completely lose all their morals and become as jaded, cocky and seemingly uncaring as their ruling party.
Right now though, I wonder will pride ever kick in for us all or are we just happy to take the bliss of ignorance and run?
As someone once said to me, “Dublin will be great when it’s finished”
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 and is filed under Thoughts & Questions, Views on News.
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Michael Says:
Your opening comments point to the nub of the problem “[it] displays all the drudgery of a city that most upper class people would never go near in a million years” if you replace upper with middle/lower middle classes. Dublin has become akin to many North American cities where the city centre has effectively been abandoned by suburban dwellers who probably only ever see it passing through in their motor cars or commuting to or from work.
The lack of infrastructure has greatly contributed to a degraded environment - no public toilets leading to pools of urine in every lane and at many bus stops, the lack of an integrated public transport system causing an over-reliance on private motoring congesting the city centre, and the latest worrying trend is the use of paved areas by cyclists. There is a clear lack of policing on foot - in any other European city I have visited there is a visible (and reassuring) police presence which coupled with genuine civic pride among citizens means that you never encounter the semi-anarchy which seems all too prevalent in Dublin. There seems to be general apathy among the populace to counter anti-social habits among others though fear for personal safety naturally plays a part in this. Central government, local authorities, An Garda, schools, parents and the individual must all take the lead in shaping Dublin into a world-class city in every sense. Being economically successful should not mean having to live in our own filth which most of us seem prepared to accept. We are not historically urban dwellers in the sense of England or Germany for example, and we can no longer blame or colonial masters for our own shortcomings. It is time that we grew up and became citizens in the fullest sense.
November 1st, 2007 at 1:35 am