Hugh Wallace on reviving Dublin city centre

Cormac Ó hEadhra got onto architect and TV presenter Hugh Wallace to ask what he made of it all. It’s safe to say that Wallace gave the report two thumbs up:

"I think it’s so exciting. You know, if you look at the museum in Bilbao, which is a destination in its own right, or you have Zaha Hadid’s museum in Rome, that’s what we need on O’Connell Street – that it is an international destination and that’s bringing people into Ireland, but they’re also being teased and intrigued by amazing architecture."

O’Connell Street and its surrounding streets have, according to Wallace, been "languishing for decades". Narrowing in from the wider city centre, Cormac asked Hugh about the plans – or suggestions – for the GPO.

"It needs to be a museum. It needs to be a world class museum. There [are] so many works of art and objects and everything in this country that has nowhere to be seen. But more importantly, we need a location for international art exhibitions which travel the world, but actually never get to Ireland. And I think that would be wonderful."

Using the GPO as this type of museum would put Dublin on the map as a must-see destination, Hugh believes. But Cormac suggests that no amount of cultural restoration will succeed unless the safety and antisocial behaviour issues in and around the city centre are addressed. Hugh doesn’t believe the solution is in any way complicated:

"That’s a Garda issue, that’s a legal issue, that’s a resourcing issue. They’re all doable, so just get on with it. Stop making excuses. We’re all great at making excuses and not seeing the opportunity, so let’s grab the opportunity."

Have we not done this before? Cormac asks. When the City Council gave O’Connell Street a facelift and repaved it prior to the arrival of the Luas line. Hugh is having none of it:

"Not at all. If you go down – everyone knows what Kildare village looks like and the public realm in Kildare village, full of benches, trees, coffee shops, activities and beautiful finishes. And that’s what we need. We need the whole of the east side, the east side of O’Connell Street needs to be a linear park."

Before you can say what’s a linear park when it’s at home, Cormac reveals his opposition to the idea of taking the Kildare village approach to Dublin’s historic premier street, but Hugh insists it would be beautiful and he’s talking about what he calls the public realm parts of the street:

"I’m talking about the trees, the vegetation, the park benches. There isn’t a park bench on O’Connell Street. Why isn’t there? Like the whole thing is outrageous.

"When you go to any other European [city], you enjoy, you promenade up and down the street. But in Dublin we don’t. You know, we have to avoid poo, you know, you have to avoid chewing gum, everything. Nothing’s cleaned. Why don’t we really have a vision and get excited about it instead of moaning?"

A major part of Hugh’s vision for the capital’s main thoroughfare is the removal of buses - "belching out fumes" - and cars: "we shouldn’t be driving cars into the city centre".

Cormac isn’t convinced by the idea of removing buses and cars. But Hugh’s moved on to the idea of living above retail spaces in the city centre:

"Nobody’s living in our city centre and that causes it to die after six o’clock at night. We need to live there, because if you live on the street, you take ownership and you take responsibility and you do not accept antisocial behaviour."

Sounds like the Dublin City Centre Taskforce should have spoken to Hugh Wallace when they were drawing up their report.

You can hear the full conversation between Cormac and Hugh by clicking above.