Calls for landmark Bank of Ireland building on Dublin’s College Green to be given back to the State
Dublin councillors have urged Bank of Ireland to hand its College Green branch back to the State, considering the building’s architectural merit and history.
Speaking at the most recent monthly meeting of Dublin City Council (DCC), Labour councillor Dermot Lacey said he felt it was “appalling” that the Government did not take back the site following the 2010 state bailout of the bank.
Completed in 1739, the landmark building was the first purpose-built parliament house in Europe, and housed the Irish Parliament until the Act of Union 1801 abolished that legislature.
It was acquired by Bank of Ireland in 1803 from the British government, and served as its headquarters from then until the 1970s.
Today, it is a functioning bank branch, with its House of Lords chamber accessible to the public on weekdays between 10am and noon.
Sinn Féin councillor Mícheál MacDonncha said the building was “the elephant in the room” when discussing the council’s College Green plaza project.
“While there may be no legal obligation on the Bank of Ireland or the Government, there’s certainly a moral obligation on the Bank of Ireland and the Government to take this building back into public ownership,” he said.
“It should be a jewel in the crown of the city in terms of public access, a cultural space for the city. Instead of that, it’s just another bank branch and that’s not good enough.”
The meeting also heard from Independents 4 Change councillor Pat Dunne, who said the landmark was “the premier building in College Green, and yet it’s privately owned”.
“Bank of Ireland were bailed out by us, the Irish citizens, when it came to the bank bailout, and they gave nothing back. They should be giving us back that as a public building,” he said.
Even if that is not possible, he said, the railings that border the public footpath should be either removed or shifted to allow more public space.
“Because unfortunately, after the gates are closed there, it’s private property,” he said.
DCC’s head of traffic, Brendan O’Brien, told councillors that the authority “can’t really comment on the fact it’s in private ownership”.
“But we had raised before when we were doing the original College Green, the kind of failed application one, we had discussed with Bank of Ireland about removing the railings,” he said.
“At the time, they weren’t really that keen on it, but they did say once there was a plaza actually in place, that they may come back and revisit that.”
A Bank of Ireland spokesperson did not respond to queries about whether the building would be handed back to the State, but pointed to the renovation of the structure.
“Our plans for College Green, one of the oldest banking halls in continuous use anywhere in the world, are entirely focused on our €36m investment and upgrade,” the spokesperson said.
Last year, the bank appointed contractor John Paul Construction to undertake a three-year programme of repair and restoration works to the building, which include upgrades to its 280 windows, 45 staircases and 54 roofs.