Dublin City Greens agree €60m deal to “clean up city”

Green councillors have signed an agreement to invest millions more into street cleaning services across Dublin city.

The eight Green Dublin City councillors have agreed to a five-year governing arrangement for the city council with Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Labour Party.

The fifteen-point agreement, “Delivering for Dublin”, commits to ring fencing extra resources to street cleaning, social housing maintenance, and a new fund for playgrounds.

For the first time in the city council, there is agreement that local property tax will not be cut in the last four years of the council, unlocking about €60m extra for the city.

The Green Party has long argued that the tax cut benefits high income households the most, giving a tiny amount to low or medium-income groups, while depriving the city of millions in public services.

The Delivering for Dublin agreement also includes commitments to deliver:

• More pedestrian crossings in the city
• A new charter on inclusion and integration
• New council structures for climate resilience and implementation of the climate and biodiversity plans
• Cycling, walking and transport infrastructure
• A renewed focus on directly building new public and affordable housing and making  use of existing vacant and derelict buildings
• Crossparty commitment to lobby central government for improved city funding, including for a hotel tourist tax.

The full document can be read here.

Green Party group leader on Dublin City Council, Cllr. Michael Pidgeon said:

“Dublin is filthy. That message came across loud and clear when canvassing in the local elections. The Greens, working with other parties, have finally secured the resources to tackle this problem. We’re going to be putting millions into new cleaning staff, equipment and resources in the coming years.

“It is not good enough for councillors to complain about a problem, we have to allocate resources to actually do something to improve the city. We love Dublin and want to see it do better: that’s why we’ve worked hard to get this practical agreement over the line. We will use this plan to work with council management to deliver for the city.

“Securing changes to the local property tax is serious progress for Dublin. Every year, councillors cut council property tax income by as much as legally possible. That cut benefitted the highest earning households most, starving the city of funds. There is a growing consensus that it needs to change.

“The Greens have also secured important commitments to push ahead with the transport changes in our city, develop a new integration strategy, and to work to make Dublin a climate-resilient city.”