9.2 - Achievements

The City Council has been working in partnership with other local authorities and organisations in the region to improve all aspects of our environment. Over the last number of years, many projects have been completed or undertaken:

  • In 2019, the Council published a Climate Change Action Plan 2019-2024 for the City which outlined projects to improve resource management, measures to deliver flood resilience and actions to improve water quality and encourage water conservation.
  • In 2019, Irish Water secured consent for a major upgrade to the Ringsend Waste Water Treatment Plan (WWTP) to enable the existing plant to meet wastewater treatment requirements. This strategic infrastructural project for the City will support ongoing population and industrial growth.
  • In 2018, the City Council worked with the Office of Public Works (OPW) to complete a Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Programme for the major rivers and coastal areas of Dublin City. This work informed the implementation of flood protection and alleviation measures on the Rivers Santry, Dodder, Poddle and Camac, together with flood relief schemes at Clontarf, the South Campshires and Sandymount.
  • The Council has undertaken a number of projects under the River Basin Management Plan for Ireland 2018-2021 and Eastern River Basin District to improve water quality within the City’s waterbodies. Of particular note is the Santry River Project, which is being progressed as part of a URDF-funded pilot to restore the river to a more natural state.
  • The Council is supporting the objectives of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) to improve the status of the City’s waterbodies by adopting a much more proactive approach to managing surface-water and flood risk through sustainable drainage and nature-based solutions, requiring new developments adjacent to the River Liffey to incorporate these solutions, together with green infrastructure features, in order to absorb rainfall.
  • The Council’s commissioning of the Dublin Waste to Energy Facility, which converts waste that cannot be reused or recycled into clean energy, has provided new localised infrastructure for the sustainable treatment and reuse of the City’s waste products.
  • The Council worked in partnership with the other Dublin local authorities to produce a combined Noise Action Plan for the Dublin Agglomeration 2018-2023 which sets out measures to mitigate excessive environmental noise and to protect areas of good acoustic quality.
  • In 2019, the Council launched a real-time air and noise monitoring website (https://dublincityairandnoise.ie/) which gives the public real time access to data for the City and provides an evidence-base for the development of policy to address local air quality issues.

In 2021, the Council became the first local authority in Ireland to establish a Telecoms Unit to harness the potential of Dublin’s digital economy, and have installed an open access ducting system and 5G technology testbed in the Dublin Docklands as part of the City’s ‘Smart Docklands’ initiative.