A survey is under way to assess the dilapidation of Dublin's historic north Georgian core, the Department of Heritage has said.
It comes as experts say the level of dereliction and neglect is at its highest in decades.
When it was built in the 1800s, the north Georgian core - taking in Mountjoy Square and its surrounding streets - was the place to be in Dublin and home to the upper classes.
However, it has undergone many reincarnations since then, before the area saw high-density tenement living and partial demolition in the 1900s.
"I think the state of the north Georgian core is a national embarrassment ... and it's going in one direction only. It's getting worse and worse," said Graham Hickey of the building preservation group, the Dublin Civic Trust.
"It's a real shame to see the scale of the shabbiness, the accelerating shabbiness of this district, where private owners are making a lot of money out of their accommodation, and that money, manifestly, is not being invested back into their buildings," he said.
On Gardiner Street Upper, just off Mountjoy Square, there is evidence of dereliction, neglect and overcrowding is dotted around.
Mr Hickey said the area is one of the capital's best assets but lags behind the Georgian core on the other side of the Liffey.
"It's extraordinary how few buildings here have had any conservation investment whatsoever compared with Georgian buildings on the south side of the city ... and it's quite interesting in the word 'inner city' that we use all the time - this is the city centre," he said.
"'Inner city' suggests something quite sinister, as if it is a black hole in the centre of Dublin, but "in fact, this is a grand civic part of our capital city. It's the city centre and we should be investing in it on a big scale," Mr Hickey said.
Pointing to the amount of homeless and asylum seeker accommodation in the surrounds, he said the area is doing the "heavy lifting" for all four of the Dublin local authorities, adding that improvements are needed for those either temporarily or permanently living in the area, and for those passing through.
Any improvements are not about gentrification, he said, rather improving the lives of those living here.
"The best of this area is its multiculturalism ... that needs to be sustained. But people need to have a better dignity of accommodation. It could not be less about gentrification.
"This is about providing a decent standard of living for all of us to enjoy, whether we're passing through the area, or whether we live here full time."
The issue is not a new one. Generations of politicians have grappled with it down through the decades.
In its Programme for Government, the current Coalition has pledged to "revive" the area and incentivise "conservation-led investment".
Local councillors want that done quickly.
"I think this is slowly tipping towards crisis here in this part of the city, because these buildings are deteriorating year-on-year," said Green Party councillor Janet Horner, who lives nearby.
"The buildings and the Georgian heritage of the area here is fantastic, and it's a huge asset, but it is obviously very neglected at the moment. And that is obvious to anybody passing through the area.
"Some of the buildings are in an incredible state of neglect. Some of them are being very well looked after by the individuals involved, but the area as a whole has just not been well maintained at all," she said.
The park in the square is due to be redeveloped in the coming months, but she said that will also serve to highlight the neglect in some of the surrounding buildings.
She acknowledged the scale of investment needed is huge and said there are other unique aspects to any regeneration in the area, namely the amount of subdivided buildings in the area, which many people call home.
"The frustration is that the grants, the systems, the plans that are working elsewhere in the city are not going to work here as well, because there's a different typology of who is living here," Cllr Horner said.
"This area is different than maybe some of the other Georgian areas of Dublin. We want to take care of the people who live in the area. We're not trying to evict people or anything.
"Any strategy that is going to focus on the built heritage of the area also has to acknowledge the social circumstances of people living in the area too," she said.
In a statement, the Department of Heritage said the north Georgian core "can be an asset of great social value" and said a "significant allocation" of more than €130 million has been received by Dublin City Council to assist in regenerating several areas in the north inner city.
It said departmental officials are working already with Dublin City Council’s conservation section to survey historic buildings in the north Georgian core in order to assess the extent of vacancy and dilapidation, and to identify priority areas for improvement.
Following this, it said, the minister will then examine options to further support conservation works.
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