Agenda and minutes

The Lord Mayor opened the meeting by expressing condolences on his own behalf and on behalf of the City Council to the family and friends of the late Dr Finbarr Flood, former Chairman of the Labour Court and Chair of St Michael’s & Fatima Mansion’s Regeneration Boards. All stood for a minute’s silence as a mark of respect for the deceased.

The Lord Mayor then put the following attendances at conferences to the City Council for approval :-

• ScoilSamhraigh and Piarsaigh 2016 29^th - 30^th July – Cllr. Heney
• Public Transport Network Design workshop 31.08.16 & 2016 Conference of Irish Transport Research Network – Cllr A Montague

Referring to the current revision of Standing Orders, The Lord Mayor informed the meeting that Review Group would meet on Thursday, 28^th July, and that all suggestions for changes received would be put forward to that group under the Lord Mayor’s name.

It was then proposed by Councillor D Lacey and seconded by the Lord Mayor “That Councillors Ring, MacDonncha, Lyons and Mahon be nominated to represent Dublin City Council on the Government’s Moore St Consultative Group  and that Councillor Cuffe’s name be put forward with a request for a 5^th place on that group” The motion was put and carried.

The Lord Mayor then referred to a report circulated to Members in relation to the offer of gift of a Chinese garden from Yangzhou City, China, which it is proposed to site in Herbert Park. The Members approved the acceptance of the gift and the siting of the garden in Herbert Park. For full text of the report, please see Appendix A to these Minutes.

The Lord Mayor then proposed that, due to the absence of many Members on holiday, all motions would be deferred where the proposer was absent from the Chamber when the motion was reached. This was agreed by the Members. Some discussion then took place on a proposal to award the Freedom of the City but any decision in relation to this was deferred.

The Lord Mayor then allowed 30 minutes discussion on the Action Plan for Housing & Homelessness which was recently launched by Minister Simon Coveney. He referred Members to a report circulated earlier - for full text of the report, please see Appendix B to these Minutes. Many Members contributed to the discussion and welcomed the initiative. The special meeting of the Housing SPC to take place on Friday, 29^th July to discuss these issues was welcomed. It was also agreed that a monthly meeting of the SPC would take place in future and that a status report would be presented to the City Council Meeting each month. The Lord Mayor also informed the Members that he and Cllr D Doolan, Chair of the Housing SPC, were available to meet with residents of Lynam Hotel.

The Members and the Chief Executive all congratulated Dr Cathal Morgan, Executive Manger, Dublin Regional Homeless Executive, on his recent promotion to the Health Service Executive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.

It was moved by Councillor R McAdam and seconded by Councillor A Clancy “That Dublin City Council notes Report No   217/2016 and hereby approves the contents therein”. The motion was put and carried.

“The Council recognises the vibrant history of O'Devaney Gardens as a public housing community, and commits to maintaining the role of O'Devaney Gardens in providing high quality, affordable housing and community facilities within Dublin's Canals. The Council furthermore accepts the role of the government, council and private developers in failing to deliver regeneration at O'Devaney Gardens, including Dublin City Council failing to honour written guarantees to numerous former residents that they could return to O'Devaney Gardens.In light of this history, and considering the housing crisis which those on low- and middle-income households in Dublin, the Council supports the development of a pilot scheme of 100% public, mixed income housing on the O'Devaney Gardens site. 

Under the scheme, all housing on the site will be built by and rented from the Council, with 50% of housing units rented at current differential rents to households currently on housing waiting lists, while 50% of housing units will be rented to households earning above the waiting list threshold, but with demonstrated housing need, and paying higher rents in line with their income” The motion was put to a roll call vote and carried. For full details of the vote, please see Appendix C to these minutes. Mr Brendan Kenny, Chief Executive, and Mr Anthony Flynn, Executive Manager, Housing Department gave updates on the situation and answered Members questions.

It was proposed by Councillor D Lacey and seconded by Councillor P McCartan “That Dublin City Council notes the contents of Report No 221/2016 and hereby approves the holding of a plebiscite in relation to a proposed renaming Belmont Court as Woods’ Way” The motion was put and carried.

It was proposed By Councillor D Flanagan and seconded by Councillor S McGrattan “That Dublin City Council notes the contents of Report No 227/2016” The motion was put and carried. It was agreed following discussion of the timelines involved that the meetings should start earlier than the usual time to facilitate an early expedition of the business on hand. The very tight timeframe involved was outlined for the Members and a possible 1pm start for the meeting on the 26^th September was agreed.

“This Council recognises and supports families that are struggling to access affordable, flexible, high quality childcare in their communities. The great need for investment and political will from government in this area is long over- due. We ask that the government make this a high priority. This council resolves to:

·        Implement a plan that will ensure childcare facilities are giving high priority in all future residential housing and commercial builds through the planning process

·        To write to the Minister for Children and Family Affairs and ask her to implement a plan that will afford all families access to high quality, flexible and affordable childcare in their communities regardless of their income”.

The motion was put and carried.

“Accordance with The World Health Organisation's 2001 Stockholm Declaration on Young People and Alcohol, which stated:  “Public health policies concerning alcohol need to be formulated by public health interests, without interference from commercial interests.” The Members of this City Council call on DCC to prohibit the granting of advertising space and the use of Dublin City Council venues for the promotion of any alcohol-related health campaigns which are funded by commercial interests involved in the sale of alcohol” The motion was put and carried.

“That Dublin City Council recognises the global growth in the sport of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) and the opportunities this sport potentially gives to the economic growth of this City. To this end, the City Council requests the Economic Development and Enterprise SPC, the Planning and International Relations SPC and Dublin City Council staff to do the following: Develop a plan for enticing MMA events to be held in the Dublin City Council Area. Build a relationship with the UFC, with the long term aim to have an annual Fight Night event held in the 3 Arena in and around St. Patrick's week. In the event there is an Irish champion in the UFC to attempt to get a title fight held in either Croke Park or Lansdowne Road in the summer months. Build a relationship with other MMA organisations and attempt to get them hold events in Ireland, such as Bellator, ONE FC, Invicta FC, WSOF, EFC etc.”

“To amend the Council's litter bye-laws to prohibit the use of council property (i.e. street furniture and lamp-posts) for the erection of election material/advertisements  during the allotted period of time in which it is permissible to advertise election material under the below legislation (1-8) and instead allow Local Area Committees to designate specific areas, such as village centres or shopping precincts, where an equal amount of space can be allocated to each candidate running in the ward/constituency to display their electoral material, e.g. Photo, contact details, biography, message to voters. 

1.  Litter Pollution Act 1997, amended by the Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Act        2009

2.  Protection of the Environment Act 2003

3.   Planning and Development Regulations 2001-2013

4.   European Parliament Elections Act 1997

5.   Local Elections Regulations 1995

6.   Referendum Act 1994

7.   Electoral Act 1992

8.   Road Traffic Act 1961

An Amendment (No 1) was put forward by Cllrs Ryan, Dunne, Perry & Hand as follows – to add the following wording to the original motion ““The Council recognises that these measures may have the unintended impact of increasing the use of paid advertising spaces (including, for example, bus shelters, buses, commercial advertising billboards, etc) during election periods. To avoid this, all such spaces should be subject to the same guidelines as council spaces during election periods”

The following amended motion was then put and carried “To amend the Council's litter bye-laws to prohibit the use of council property (i.e. street furniture and lamp-posts) for the erection of election material/advertisements  during the allotted period of time in which it is permissible to advertise election material under the below legislation (1-8) and instead allow Local Area Committees to designate specific areas, such as village centres or shopping precincts, where an equal amount of space can be allocated to each candidate running in the ward/constituency to display their electoral material, e.g. Photo, contact details, biography, message to voters. 

1.         Litter Pollution Act 1997, amended by the Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2009

 2.         Protection of the Environment Act 2003

 3.         Planning and Development Regulations 2001-2013

 4.         European Parliament Elections Act 1997

 5.         Local Elections Regulations 1995

 6.         Referendum Act 1994

 7.         Electoral Act 1992

 8.         Road Traffic Act 1961

The Council recognises that these measures may have the unintended impact of increasing the use of paid advertising spaces (including, for example, bus shelters, buses, commercial advertising billboards, etc) during election periods.

To avoid this, all such spaces should be subject to the same guidelines as council spaces during election periods”

An Amendment (No 2) was then put forward by Sinn Fein Group as follows : To delete the words from ‘bye-laws’ to ‘allow’ and all words after ‘material. The following amended motion was then put and carried - “To amend the Council's litter bye-laws to allow Local Area Committees to designate specific areas, such as village centres or shopping precincts, where an equal amount of space can be allocated to each candidate running in the ward/constituency to display their electoral material”  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

"That Dublin City Council recognises:

·        The use of wild animals in circuses is outdated now that there are other, better ways to see and learn about wild animals

·        Using wild animals in circuses adds nothing to human understanding and conservation of wild animals and the natural environment

·        Circuses can still be enjoyed even if they do not include animals

·        People should recognise and respect the wild nature and innate value of wild animals

·        Using wild animals solely for circus performance is unbefitting to their wildness

·        Calls on the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to introduce and ensure appropriate enforcement of a strict ban on the use of wild non-domesticated animals in circuses

·        Bans the use of Dublin City Council land for wild animal circuses until a time that legislation is brought in to enact a ban”

The motion was put and carried.