College Green is unquestionably Dublin’s great architectural set-piece and has been celebrated as such since the 1790s, when it featured in James Malton’s famous prints of the city’s landmarks.
It is also the centre of Dublin, the place where we congregate for major public occasions and celebrations. But unlike memorable images from the past, showing an uncluttered plaza flanked by the old Parliament House and the façade of Trinity College, it has since been turned into a traffic circus – noisy, polluted, congested and unpleasant, particularly for pedestrians.
Dublin City Council’s latest plan to re-order the plaza, which is going to public consultation next month, would remove east-west traffic to enable the creation of an exclusive pedestrian zone, with buses, trams and taxis (at least initially) traversing its eastern flank, in front of Trinity College.
Cyclists would also be catered for, with a dedicated two-way cycle track, although they would be required to dismount to cross the central space. Motorists would have to find alternative routes, while buses currently running on Dame Street would be accommodated elsewhere – for example, by making Parliament Street a two-way bus corridor.
The statue of Henry Grattan, minus its overshadowing clump of plane trees, and the Thomas Davis memorial, with its retinue of minstrels around a fountain, would be left in situ.
There are bound to be fears of change, especially radical change such as what is now being proposed. But we need to reclaim College Green as the heart of Dublin – and the Luas Cross City line, now under construction, has provided the impetus to realise this worthy objective. Traffic in the city will find its own level, as it usually does.
The council’s timetable calls for the appointment of an architect-led design team this summer to flesh out the details. Great care will need to be taken to conserve – and, if possible, augment – the historic granite footpath in front of the old Parliament House, and to ensure that new paving and street furniture are of the highest quality. College Green demands no less.