An emergency motion highlighting the long-running neglect of Ballymun and Finglas introduced by Cllr Conor Reddy has been passed by the North West Area Committee, after Dublin City Council’s new capital programme showed that the North West is once again being left at the back of the queue.
The figures are stark. The North West administrative area (Ballymun-Finglas LEA) has been allocated just 2 percent of the Council’s non-housing capital spend for 2026 to 2028, amounting to roughly €475 per person, the lowest allocation of any area in the city.
This comes on top of the fact that the North West has the slowest social housing delivery pipeline in Dublin, despite huge housing need, rapid population growth driven by private rental, and the prospect of even faster growth under the National Planning Framework housing targets due to be implemented through Variation 11 to the City Development Plan.
The motion notes that parts of Ballymun and Finglas experience some of the highest levels of social deprivation in the city, while also carrying the weight of decades of delay, underinvestment and broken promises, from the Ballymun Regeneration to the Finglas Luas, Metrolink, and the Finglas Roundabouts scheme.
It points to major deficits in public realm, community infrastructure and sporting facilities, and to a broader pattern where the North West loses out across multiple areas. That pattern can be seen not just in capital spending and housing delivery, but in other measures of public support too, including City arts grant funding, Local Enhancement Programme grants and wider investment in community life.
The motion calls for a meeting with the Chief Executive on the present and future needs of the North West Area. It also calls on the Chief Executive to use his executive powers to ensure the gap does not widen further and that projects in Ballymun and Finglas are prioritised.
Cllr Conor Reddy said:
“The North West is being left behind, and people here know it. You see it in housing. You see it in non-housing capital investment - 2% of the overall Capital project budget for 2026-28 in the North West area, compared to 28% in the South East Area.
“It’s no surprise that areas like the South East, including places like Sandymount, Ballsbridge, Ranelagh, Rathmines and Rathgar, do better when it comes to investment and grant success. They’re areas with well-connected people, high levels of social capital, and far greater capacity to make the system work for them.
“The job of the Council is not to reproduce that inequality. It is supposed to correct for it. If Dublin City Council is serious about social inclusion and reducing inequality, it has to put its money where its mouth is!”
“The Chief Executive has acknowledged that the North West is relatively underinvested. That should now be the starting point for action. We need a full explanation of how this happened, what will be done to stop the gap widening, and what projects will now be prioritised to start putting that right.
“Dublin North West can no longer be left behind. The balance has to be addressed. Our communities deserve proper investment, proper infrastructure and a fair share of the city’s resources.”