Harbour Court, a back street in the city centre, has been closed to the public, following persistent crime and antisocial behaviour.
Dublin City Council made the decision to close the lane last night.
There had been difficulties in policing the area, leading to an 'uncontrollable' level of drug use and illegal dumping.
The street runs between Marlborough Street, opposite the Abbey Theatre, and is commonly used as a pedestrian route from the quays to Abbey Street.
Local Councillor Nial Ring says the decision is unfortunate, but necessary:
"We have to take a reality check and live in the real world.
And I've been down that lane a good few times in my time. But, of late, when you go down there, if you want to see drug-dealing, if you want to see prostitution, if you want to see open toilets, if you want to see needles all over the place, that's the place to go. It's just totally and utterly out of control".
Cllr. Ring adds closing off laneways in the city centre is not something the council wants to do, but in this case, the location and size of the street was making if increasingly difficult to police.
Local businesses had called on the council to close the route off over a decade ago, due to the behaviour that was being carried out there.
