Our Community: The Liberties Business Forum Marks a Year of Achievements

31.05.18

Business, Love The Liberties

The Liberties is increasingly recognised as one of Dublin’s most exciting communities in which to live, work, visit and invest.

That’s the message of  The Liberties Business Forum – a representative group of large and small businesses and institutions based in Dublin 8, working to help to shape and define one of the capital’s most dynamic neighbourhoods.

Launching its Annual Report for 2017, the Forum used the theme ‘Our Community’ to highlight the positive role that local businesses play alongside residents and community groups in supporting wider social and economic life in the area. From job creation, to improving the quality of shops and services, to supporting local training and education, as well as local charities and community efforts, the Forum is an active participant in the positive social and cultural uplift that The Liberties is experiencing.

Among the achievements of the area in 2017, the report highlights:

  • Local enterprise promotion in 2017 including participating in the inaugural Ireland’s Most Enterprising Towns and a highly successful Liberties Enterprise Day in October that showcased many of the area’s small businesses and start-ups. There is now increasing investment, business and employment in The Liberties.
  • Bumper visitor numbers to the area and its tourist attractions. All the area’s major sights saw a big increase in visitor numbers in 2017. The area also welcomed new attractions such as Pearse Lyons Distillery, while work advanced on three new hotels for The Liberties.  The chances are if you’re visiting Dublin, you’re visiting The Liberties.
  • Work advanced on the new National Children’s Hospital at St James’s. The €1bn project will revolutionise pediatric care in the State and create a major new economy anchor at the west end of The Liberties when it opens in 2022. The hospital, together with St James’s Hospital, are also the centre of a health and well-being quarter in Dublin 8, partnering with organisations as diverse as NCAD and The Digital Hub. The area’s businesses and institutions are working together for everyone’s benefit.
  • Cultural life in the area continues to blossom. 2017 saw an inaugural Culture Date with Dublin 8 in May, The Liberties Festival and inaugural Liberties Awards, and a series of events to mark St Thomas’s Abbey – the medieval genesis of the area. We had creativity on show at NCAD during its summer Graduate Showcase, exhibitions, heritage walks, food festivals and much, much more. This is where Old Dublin meets New Dublin. 

Launching the Annual Report, the Forum’s chairperson Anthony Joyce – who’s legal practice is based on Oliver Bond Street – noted:

Since the establishment of the Forum in 2014 we’ve seen previously empty shops occupied, derelict sites being filled and a very positive social and cultural uplift in the area… There is a buzz in The Liberties which is attracting further investment. Our aim is to continue to help to shape this investment to ensure we keep the open, vibrant community spirit and personality of the area.

The Annual Report also includes details of the pace of investment in The Liberties, transforming locations such as Newmarket and St James’s Gate. And the report highlights the views and efforts of local businesses to improve the quality of the environment in the area.

Click on the image to read The Liberties Business Forum CLG Annual Report 2017.

 

 

The Liberties Business Forum was established in 2014 to represent the interests of large and small businesses and stakeholders in Dublin’s historic Liberties district. The Forum includes membership from Dublin City Council, Diageo, The Guinness Storehouse, The Digital Hub Development Agency, The GEC, National College of Art & Design, St James’s Hospital as well as businesses on the main commercial streets of the area: Thomas Street, Francis Street, Meath Street and Newmarket.

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