PRESS RELEASE: MONDAY JULY 10TH 2017

Emergency Motion Calls on Dublin City Council Chief Executive Owen Keegan to Withdraw Council Staff from DublinTown Board

An Emergency Motion has been brought before Dublin City Council calling on the CEO Owen Keegan to withdraw DCC staff from the DublinTown Board. This is to allow due process in any investigation the Council may have to carry out as a result of complaints made to the Council by DublinTown CEO Richard Guiney about Dublin City Councillor Mannix Flynn.

An official complaint was made by Mr Guiney to Dublin City Council on Friday regarding Councillor Flynn, who is heavily involved in the No to BID Campaign.

Commenting on this, No to BID Campaign spokesperson Kim Condon said; ‘’we were alarmed to hear about the complaint in the first place. Even more alarming was that Councillor Flynn first heard about the complaint when a member of the media contacted him about it on Friday. This would suggest that officials in Dublin City Council or in DublinTown have been selectively leaking information to the media as part of their dirty tricks campaign to discredit our group. We are calling on Owen Keegan to investigate immediately and for DCC staff to withdraw from the board of DublinTown to allow due process in the investigation.’’

Ms Condon went on to say; ‘’the No to BID Campaign is having a surge in momentum and we have received a huge increase in support. It is clear to me that DublinTown is in trouble and chose to engage in this stunt as it is in the dying days of its reign.’’

The Emergency Motion, brought to the DCC South East Area Committee, will be heard today (Monday 10^th July) and has been tabled by Councillor Flynn.

DublinTown (formerly Dublin BID) is a company which was set up in 2008 following a vote of Dublin city centre businesses. It is charged with improving Dublin City as a commercial district. Businesses in the district pay a compulsory levy of 5% of their commercial rates. DublinTown is renewed every five years by a vote of businesses in the district. The vote this year is overshadowed by a groundswell of anger and mistrust from businesses, a proposed increase to the levy and highly-contested footfall figures.
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