Liberties residents stand up against new hotel plans - 'We have enough'
Liberties residents and representatives are standing up against plans for another Aparthotel in the area.
Dublin 8 locals say their neighbourhood is "at capacity" for hotels and student accommodation. Following a rejected planning bid in 2024, a fresh application has been lodged for the Thomas Street site - once again putting a more than 25 year campaign for a community space at the same location in jeopardy.
Pauline McAdam of the Bridgefoot Street Residents Association met with Dublin Live to express her frustration that an area that desperately needs a community centre, green spaces, and places for children to play instead must contend with one hotel after another. “We don't want any more hotels or apartments here. We have enough,” she said.
Having fought for the betterment of her community for the past 27 years, 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.
The solution has been staring the community in the face for decades. Residents have been incredibly vocal about transforming the site, currently being considered for a hotel, into a space for public good. “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.
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 says 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.
Sinn Fein Councillor Ciaran O Meachair explained that the Liberties is already “saturated” with this type of accommodation and the community is desperate for long-term housing. He believes developments such as this are endangering the cultural fabric of the Liberties and for this reason has called for the area to be considered for inclusion on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list .
“Ordinary people are being squeezed out by hotels, Airbnbs, and student accommodation. Young people are growing up in the Liberties and looking at brand new fancy buildings that they’ll never be able to afford,” Cllr O Meachair previously stated at the December monthly council meeting.
“Dublin City Council needs to take responsibility for this because it’s ultimately them who approve these hotels and student accommodation.”
Cllr O Meachair highlighted the damage already caused by the proliferation of development in the area that’s unwanted by local residents. “It takes up land that's actually available in the area to go towards long-term housing. So the more of these developments that we actually build in the Liberties, the less that will be available to address the actual housing crisis,” he said.
The lack of housing puts the “ future trajectory of the Liberties ” in danger, as Cllr O Meachair fears the area is increasingly being catered to tourists and “not the community.” He said, despite the council passing his motion to pursue UNESCO status, planning applications for hotels continue to appear.
“They undermine the fact that we're trying to protect the sense of identity and communities that the Liberties has,” he said. With a large Aparthotel just around the corner on Oliver Bond Street, residents have already voiced their concerns about how existing hotels have negatively impacted them.
Cllr O Meachair said there many issues that have not been addressed, and residents are worried that their cul-de-sac, which local children rely on to play in, will become a de facto building site while work is ongoing. The planned six-storey hotel will also have an effect on the landscape of the area as it will tower over their residential properties.
“This feeds into broader problems around the gentrification of the Liberties - that the sense of community is being lost to development that doesn't necessarily help locals,” he said.
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