THE man who has been at the helm of the regeneration of Ballymun for more than a decade says he walking away from the position with few regrets and a happy heart.
Ciaran Murray will retire next autumn after 12 years at the head of Europe’s largest regeneration scheme.
Mr Murray was tasked with the ambitious challenge of transforming Ballymun from a disadvantaged and stigmatised area, notorious for its ill-conceived towers, into a vibrant and sustainable town that would attract much-needed investment.
“The biggest challenge for us was the logistics involved in building and demolishing while trying to keep residents in situ,” he told Northside People.
“It was with colossal difficulty that we had to do a musical chairs exercise with the residents.
“One of the biggest regrets for me was that there were some unnecessary delays to the project. In the initial stages there was an extraordinary amount of consultation and some elements of the plan were challenged in court, ironically on environmental grounds in relation to flooding risks.
“We’ve proved that the regeneration has actually solved all the flooding problems that plagued Ballymun for so many years.
“In terms of the consultation, the level of engagement with the community has been astounding.
“We headed up 5,000 meetings with community representatives in the initial stages.
“While consultation is incredibly important, you have to strike a balance while keeping the focus on delivering at the same time.
“You only really get one window of opportunity and we couldn’t afford to let that slip.
“Ideally I would have liked for development such as the new shopping centre to have been built by this stage.”
The first five years were some of the most challenging and rewarding according to the 57-year-old Meath man who says he will always have a special place in his heart for the ‘mun’.
“I was working 60, 70 and 80 hour weeks,” Mr Murray explained.
“Thankfully I was very fortunate to have a very supportive wife and three children as I was usually in the office at 8am and I’d be lucky if I was home at 10pm or 11pm that night.”
The entire regeneration project of Ballymun is expected to cost to close to a billion euro when it is complete in 2014.
“It’s money incredibly well spent as far as I’m concerned,” Mr Murray said.
“There is this often general misconception that the cost has spiralled but you have to consider it in context. When we first started out on the project we were asked to put a genuine estimate on the project but people forget that there is such a thing as inflation.
“We have been delivering this project for over ten years and in that time the cost was bound to increase because of inflation.
“There will always be issues of concern but we were always well aware that we were spending large amounts of public money and we were intent on getting value for money and we’ve maximised the potential of the development.”
So what’s next for Mr Murray who will be winding down his work over the next few months?
“Initially, I intend to take a break,” he revealed.
“My eldest daughter is married to a French man and lives in Bordeaux so I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to visit the area frequently.
“But I won’t be downing tools indefinitely and I’ve already had a few job offers. I had a unique work experience in the regeneration project of Ballymun and I would hope that with that experience in planning and development I could make some contribution to the problems that the country is currently faced with.”