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Crosbie 182-bedroom hotel plan meets opposition in Dublin’s Liberties

Vicar Street Hotel Ltd lodges plans for eight-storey building in Dublin 8, near Crosbie’s entertainment venue

The Vicar Street venue in Dublin's Liberties, close to the site of a proposed new hotel. A community group opposes the development on grounds it 'further increases hotel and overpriced student accommodation' in the area. Photograph: Cyril Byrne

Gordon Deegan
Wed May 22 2024 - 17:44

Plans by a Harry Crosbie firm to develop a new 182-bedroom Vicar Street hotel will lead to a further saturation of hotels for Dublin’s Liberties, it has been claimed.

The Liberties-Rialto branch of the Community Action Tenants’ Union (CATU) has lodged an objection against the proposal.

In the two-page filing, the union also claims the plan “represents an intrusion of devotional privacy in regards to the Meath Street Grotto”.

In April, Mr Crosbie’s Vicar Street Hotel Ltd lodged plans for the eight-storey building in Dublin 8. The hotel site is bounded by Vicar Street to the east and Molyneaux Yard to the west, and lies in proximity to Mr Crosbie’s Vicar Street entertainment venue.

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Mr Crosbie had previously secured planning permission for a hotel at the site but a report lodged with the new application claims it is “not practical to commence and substantially complete the hotel” in the time frame allowed by the existing expiration date of August 25th next.

[ Harry Crosbie’s Vicar Street hotel planning application invalidated ]

In its objection, the CATU branch said “We welcome development which prioritises social housing and public facilities, but we cannot support a development which further increases hotel and overpriced student accommodation.” It claimed the Liberties area “is currently being saturated” by such development.

“This proposal leads to further overconcentration and results in an excessively transient population in the vicinity of the site.”

It highlighted the sensitive historic area close to protected structures and said that “due to its scale and proximity [it] would detract from the setting of the adjacent statutory Thomas Street & Environs Architectural Conservation Area”.

Echoing those concerns, Sinn Féin counsellor Máire Devine told the council “as a Liberties local, our area is being saturated by hotel developments which is displacing my family and this long-established proud community”.

[ Are we being priced out of family events in hotels? ]

She said the local authority “must prioritise and protect the gem that is the Liberties”.

Horse-and-carriage operator Kevin Keeler has worked in Molyneaux Yard for over 25 years. In his submission, he asked that the council include a management plan “to ensure my rights and my animals’ welfare is protected”.

“I feel the history of horse-carriage tours is an important grain to our community and the longevity and success of this tourist attraction must be protected,” he wrote.

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