Dublin City Councillors will on Monday be asked to approve a new five-year lease with Park Rite for the 1,000-space car parking facility at the Ilac centre in Dublin city centre. Photograph: Eric Luke
The Dawson Street car park on the southside of the city and the Ilac car park on the northside are both owned by the council, but are leased to operator Park Rite. If we’re not careful, Irish cities risk becoming Detroit which was ceded to dereliction and vandalismThe council last October set up an “adaptive reuse” programme to convert vacant commercial buildings in the city to homes. More than 12,000 homes and commercial properties are vacant across Dublin,The adaptive reuse unit has a remit to buy private commercial properties for housing, but also to convert council-owned buildings to housing.
If the buildings were not suitable for housing, they could be suitable for urban farming. “Car parks in Paris have been repurposed to include urban farming, and the basements where there isn’t any light are ideal for mushroom growing,” she said.