Artists fear iconic Merrion Square exhibition is at risk due to new cycle lanes

Fiona Frawley

a series of framed artworks hanging on the railings outside a park at merrion square

Local artists are concerned that the new cycle lanes could end the forty year exhibition.

Dublin City Council’s proposed segregated cycle-lane initiative would see 31 parking spaces – which are currently used by artists for a weekend exhibition – removed.

The open art gallery at Merrion Square has been a cultural staple of weekends on the south side of Dublin City for decades.

Council plans involve the removal of all 31 car parking spaces from Merrion Square North, to facilitate a cycle lane alongside the park. The lane is part of the interim Trinity College to Ballsbridge route which will run from Nassau Street to Northumberland Road, which was outlined to councillors on Monday.

Councillors have been contacted by artists who sell their work in the area to say they will not be able to continue if car parking is removed, the Irish Times has reported.

There are also concerns that the removal of the parking spaces would cause difficulties for parents attending the nearby maternity hospital at Holles Street.

Fine Gael Cllr James Geoghegan said:

There’s about 5½ thousand babies delivered every year across the road at the National Maternity Hospital. I am a keen cycling advocate but even I wouldn’t put a newborn baby in a bicycle basket… You are going to cause major disruption to both artists and potentially parents collecting their babies.

Labour Party Cllr Mary Freehill added:

Is a woman in labour expected to cycle in on a bike? Is that the reality some people think is possible?

She also suggested that artists could be given permits to park on the cycle lanes during the weekend exhibition.

However, several councillors including Green Party Cllrs Claire Byrne and Hazel Chu, Sinn Féin’s Daniel Céitinn and Fianna Fáil’s Claire O’Connor have said they would not support weekend parking in the cycle lanes.

We have to be really brave and bold in these schemes, we have to reduce our transport emissions. Yes we have to get it right, we have to protect the cultural life such as the artists of Merrion Square, but these schemes are critical to the survival not just of the city but of the planet, Cllr Byrne said.

The Council have said they will engage with the artists affected “to see if we can find some sort of a workable solution within the scheme”.

Header image via Facebook/Merrion Art