The Dublin City Taskforce has made a range of recommendations for cleaning up the capital – from drafting in 1,000 extra Gardaí to expanding the CCTV network and tackling on-street drug use.

The group, which was established last May to revitalise the capital in the wake of the November 2023 riots and the Covid-19 pandemic, has made a total of ten recommendations.

I don’t think many people would disagree with most of these proposals.

Something drastic needs to happen to make Dublin City Centre safer, cleaner and more attractive for Dubliners and visitors alike – but did we need a taskforce to tell us this?

A splitscreen showing the spire in Dublin (L) and Dublin City Task Force Chair David McRedmond (R)

Taskforce Chair David McRedmond believes that many of the recommendations can be implemented immediately.

“It can be done straight away,” he told me yesterday “A lot will happen fairly quickly.”

“The Taoiseach has called together the main departments in Government that have to deliver this and he wants their plan before Christmas.

“That will be delivered for whoever the government is".

Taoiseach Simon Harris after the launch of the Dublin City Taskforce Report at the GPO in Dublin, 21-10-2024. Image: PA Images / Alamy

The truth is that the recommendations can’t happen soon enough.

As I put it to Taoiseach Simon Harris at the launch of the taskforce report yesterday, there’s nothing in these suggestions that he wouldn’t have found out if we went and asked random people on O’Connell Street what needs to be done.

And how soon can 1,000 extra Gardai on the streets actually happen anyway?

The State, for quite some time now, has struggled to increase Garda numbers.

Garda sources have told me the plan isn’t viable because officers are “completing reams of paperwork in the prosecution of cases”.

For now, the taskforce recommendations are just words on a piece of paper.

People want action not words when it comes to safety and security in Dublin.