"Keeping the feel of Dublin is important".
Amidst ongoing fears that the historic heart and cultural essence of Dublin is being compromised to make way for hotels and aparthotels,
Dublin City Council have refused planning for three such establishments in recent months.
The applications included a proposed eight-bedroom hotel at Merchants Arch in Temple Bar, a 142-bedroom hotel by
Jack Nealons pub on
Capel Street and a 37-bed aparthotel on Francis Street. All were refused on grounds of "over-concentration".
Francis Street
Welcoming the news of the quashed application on Francis Street, activist Kieran Rose wrote:
Good news that planning application 3097/23 to demolish 2 residential buildings of historic interest at 2 &3 Mark's Alley off Francis Street to provide for aparthotel has been refused by DCC partly because of the loss of historic fabric in an Architectural Conservation Area.
He added: "An important precedent I think to protect the 'ordinary' buildings of historic value in the Liberties".
https://twitter.com/kieranarose/status/1639363438970298398?s=20
Others noted the importance of "keeping the feel of Dublin", with Donal Fallon adding: "The Liberties area (Cork Street especially) is drowning in aparthotels and similar developments. Much tourism is motivated by seeking authenticity in a place you visit. The battle is on to keep some of it in Dublin 8".
Capel Street
A derelict site beside Jack Nealon's pub on Capel Street was acquired by Dutch hospitality group City ID in 2020. The group acquired planning permission for a 142-bedroom hotel, but this has now been scaled back to a smaller aparthotel development.
The council said plans for the hotel would “exacerbate” the over concentration of hotels and undermine the vision for a dynamic mix of uses within the city centre area. They also pointed out that around 2,150 hotel rooms had been permitted in recent years within 350m of the proposed hotel site.
However, An Bord Pleanála overturned the decision citing a lack of "specific policy basis" for DCC's refusal. A hotel will still be built on the site - just on a smaller scale.
The site for the proposed aparthotel complex on Capel Street, image via Google Maps.
Merchants Arch
A proposal for a hotel at the site of
Merchants Arch in Temple Bar was met with public outcry in October of 2021, with a petition opposing the proposal garnering over 50,000 signatures.
In January of this year DCC refused planning, with their report reading: "There are significant concerns that the loss of retail and the provision of an additional licensed premises would negatively impact and further erode the variety and diversity of retail within the designated Temple Bar cultural and artistic quarter where there is already a significant quantum of licensed premises."
Merchants Arch, image via Shutterstock.
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