Dear Councillors and Minister,

My name is Alan Clarke. I am a professional artist, a sculptor to be exact. I work out of a small industrial unit in Ossory Court on Ossory Road, between North Strand and East Wall.


I have an idea:

Ossory Court is a small industrial estate comprising 25 light industrial units, of which 7 are actually under the arches of the adjoining railway line. After a period in receivership, the whole estate is now up for sale with a guide price of €995000. I think it would be a very good idea to for Dublin City Council to buy this property and rent the units as workshop spaces for professional artists, sculptors, crafts people, and artisans working in the film and theatre industry. Here are the advantages of this idea:

- This is not some aspirational notion for years in the future, these units are ready to occupy now. 

- The units currently make €143440 rent per annum. Even if the rents on the units were reduced significantly (they should be), this investment would come at no long term cost for the taxpayer, indeed depending on the rental rates it would be completely paid off and actually begin to make money for DCC in 10-15 years. 

- This could develop into a thriving artists community, bringing a huge cultural and social boost for an area that has the feel of an unpleasant no-man’s-land.

- Dublin has no other studio/workshop complexes for artists like this. It is badly needed. 

- The people of Dublin would approve of this. I floated the idea on my social media recently and it got an extremely positive reaction.

- This is a list of artists’ studios and independent arts venues that have closed down in Dublin in the last 15 years or so:

Abbey Artists’ Studios, Marlborough St. RIP
Brunswick Mill Studios, Brunswick St. RIP
New Art Studios, Mary’s Abbey RIP
Market Studios Halston street RIP
Littlesalt, Hedron’s Building Dominic St. RIP
Hendron’s Collider, Dominic St. RIP
South Studio, New Row South, RIP
Monster Truck Gallery and Studios, Francis St. RIP
The Joinery, Stoneybatter RIP
The Yard, Stoneybatter RIP
Ya Ya Studios, Stoneybatter RIP
Mabos, Grand Canal Dock RIP
Moxie Studio, Lad Lane RIP
Print Block Studio, Cork St. RIP
Broadstone Studios, Broadstone RIP
Broadstone Studios, Harcourt Terrace RIP
She-d, Gardener Lane RIP
Exchange Dublin RIP
Millstreet Studios RIP
Commonplace Studios, Burgh Quay RIP
Red Stables Studios RIP
Steambox Gallery and Studios, The Liberties RIP
Block T Smithfield RIP
Block T Basin view RIP
Bloick T Bow Lane RIP
Project Arts Centre RIP
Basic Space, Dublin RIP
Richmond Road Studios, Richmond Road RIP
The Tivoli and the Tivoli Yard, Francis St. RIP
Phoenix Studios, Castleforbes Road RIP
IMOCA, Inchicore RIP
Andrew’s Lane Theatre, RIP
(this list was compiled from my own memory, there may be many more)

For a city that supposedly prides itself on it’s culture this makes grim reading, because very little has replaced them. DCC has allowed the soul of grassroots art to be bullied out of the city in favour of hotel developments and office blocks that nobody goes into. Despite all the patting themselves on the back that DCC Arts Office and the Arts Council like to do, Dublin remains an extrememly hostile city for artists and arts practitioners. This is a chance to make some amends. It is a clear vision, and would be a very welcome boost to the arts community.

- This is not a hand out, it would be aimed at professional artists who would pay a fair rent. I would see it working as follows: DCC could purchase this property then lease the whole thing to an independent administrator, who would run it as an independent entity. I can suggest a few people who would be both capable and willing to do this. 
(In order for this to work it would be essential that it is run completely independently. Outside of it’s elected councillors, DCC has a bureaucratic structure that sadly seems to be extremely hostile to these kind of initiatives. If it was run directly by DCC, sadly I think it would not succeed)


Here are the disadvatages of this idea:

- None


This is an investment that would pay dividends for the city on many levels. Here is the link to the listing on the estate agent’s site: https://qre.ie/properties/ossory/

I look forward to hearing from you, 
kind regards,

Alan