Liberties residents hold 'no more hotels' protest amid latest aparthotel approval
Liberties residents are staging a housing protest on Thomas Street following planning approval for another aparthotel.
With slogans like “no hotel hotels” and “ Dublin 8 needs housing,” a protest has been organised for 5pm today at 144 Thomas Street. This comes as Sinn Féin Councillor Ciarán Ó Meachair confirms that, despite major pushback from the public, planning permission for yet another Aparthotel has been approved by Dublin City Council .
“This decision once again shows the disconnect between DCC officials and the lived reality on the ground. The Liberties is fast being turned into a tourist resort and local people have really been given no say,” Cllr Ó Meachair stated.
“Unelected officials are making decisions which are changing the social fabric of a very proud community. Homes now sit in the shadow of these huge multistorey blocks and people just feel a total loss of community as over tourism becomes more and more of an issue.”
Cllr Ó Meachair said he will be submitting an appeal against this decision to An Coimisiún Pleanála. This approved Aparthotel is located near Thomas Street with members of the Bridgefoot Street Residents Association previously meeting with Dublin Live to voice their opposition and hope that the long-vacant site be instead used to serve the community.
Pauline McAdam of the Bridgefoot Street Residents Association said their neighbourhood is already “at capacity” for hotels and student accommodation and has been campaigning for more than 25 years for the provision of community facilities. “We don't want any more hotels or apartments here. We have enough,” she said.
Pauline said she set up a youth group “in response to there being nothing for young people” in the area. Now, all these decades later, she said children still have to play out on the road with parents “ordering them to run away from the cars”. The community does their best to organise seasonal events and provide local youths with regular activities, but in order to “to run programmes to keep kids safe,” Pauline says they need a dedicated space. “We’ve sent in applications and proposals but they’ve all fallen on deaf ears,” she said.
She believed the solution was to use the site, which is now going to become a hotel, to offer the community somewhere they can call their own. "It's only a little tiny piece of land, give it to us before the developers swallow it up and take it over,” Pauline pleaded last March.
Local resident Annette Dunne spoke about what she described as the “absolute disgrace” of "every bit of available land" in the Liberties being exploited for profit rather than the needs of the community. She said it’s been heart-breaking to watch the lifeblood of the Liberties gradually erode since the 1960s.
Annette said the community “needs this space for children” and that they are standing up for the future generations who can’t speak for themselves. “Everyone is saying it’s good for tourists, but what about the young people?”
Pauline stressed that building hotels instead of social housing is “failing a generation of children” and the problem only seems to be getting worse. She called on Dublin City Council to take a proactive look at what’s happening and to work alongside community groups to protect the Liberties . “We all need to work together to ensure that future generations of kids aren’t playing out on the road, with nothing to do but get in trouble,” she said.
The ‘No More Hotels’ protest takes place this evening at 144 Thomas Street at 5pm.
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