Residents to protest against plans for eight-story Vicar Street hotel

A rally is getting underway in the city centre this afternoon against plans to build an eight story hotel beside the Vicar Street music venue.

Local residents have said they want green space, homes and community facilities in the area - not a high-rise.

They have sent a petition with over 100 names to An Bord Pleanala – but People Before Profit Councillor Tina MacVeigh says they don't feel anyone is listening.

“It is appearing, on the face of it, as though developers are being given free rein to develop whatever they want in the area – whatever height, whatever development that suits profit,” she said.

“Whereas, the community is being left to fight tooth and nail for green spaces, for community facilities, for sporting facilities - and most importantly for housing.”

An artist's impression of the proposed Vicar Street Hotel

She said it is the first of a series of rallies in the Liberties and Coombe area, over the impact of profit-led development in Dublin's inner-city.

“The various campaigns in the community of Dublin 8 want to band together and want to shed a spotlight on what they see as a very, very destructive development in our area,” she said.

“In other continental cities where they medieval quarters, there is a degree of respect shown to those areas and preservation and conservation whereas that seems to be missing in this case.”

She said Dublin 8 has been “inundated with hotels and luxury student accommodation” and warned that “they do not create a sustainable city that people want to live in.”