A prominent Dublin City Councillor has called for Council chief Owen Keegan to resign over failures to deliver "services Dubliners need".
The call follows the horrific state of O'Connell Street being broadcast on RTE's Prime Time on Tuesday night. The devastating programme showed open drug use, violence and urine on the statues on the country's premier street.
The show also included footage of an RTE reporter being offered crack cocaine by a man who was openly smoking the drug. The state of the thoroughfare has caused a major backlash with one TD saying he is "ashamed" of it.
Read more: RTE Prime Time viewers disgusted by state of O'Connell Street
Fine Gael Councillor Ray McAdam placed the blame of O'Connell Street's decline at the door of the Council Chief Executive. He claimed that Mr Keegan is pulling staff from Area Offices which means vital services Dubliners need like street cleaning are not being delivered.
Cllr McAdam is Chair of the Central Area Committee, which O'Connell Street falls into. O'Connell Street's decline "goes to the heart of the big challenges facing the city centre", Cllr McAdam told Dublin Live.
"[Owen] Keegan is ripping the heart out of the City Council. He is trying to do more with less and it is not working."
He added: "My confidence in him to lead Dublin City Council is draining away fast. He is centralising everything in Civic Offices and the majority of services that Dubliners require and need are based in the area offices."
"When I started in the city, there used to be five area managers for the five administrative areas. That is now down to one per electoral area."
Cllr McAdam also accused the Council boss of being "out of touch" with the public. He said: "He says all the time that sign posts cluttering our streets are all needed - he is completely out of touch.
"The sooner he goes, the better". A spokeswoman for Dublin City Council said Mr Keegan could not respond to the call for his resignation because he is on "planned annual leave" this week.
Cllr McAdam also raised issues with what he perceived to be a downgrading of the promise to deliver a new Garda Station at 13A Upper O’Connell Street. A garda statement read the location will be used as a "Garda Liaison Office with a particular focus on providing assistance to tourists" - not a full garda station.
However, former Assistant Commissioner Anne Maria Cagney told Councillors at a meeting in May the premises would provide a public counter that "will mirror those provided at any garda station. A spokesman for the gardai said they do not comment on statements from third parties.
Dublin Live previously reported works on the station have not started despite a promise it would be delivered by the end of summer.
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