How Dublin is losing its soul…
Dublin is still a city steeped in history; its past lingers like an Irish winter in every lane, street and alley.
It’s fair to say that Dublin is no Paris; it can’t compare in terms of beautiful architecture that inspires romance or poetry, nor art that brings millions of tourists each year. Not even the food is anything to write home about.
Yet, Dublin is still a city steeped in history; its past lingers like an Irish winter in every lane, street and alley. How could a place so bereft of beauty be so rich in culture? After all, was it not in Dublin where James Joyce chose to set the greatest novel of the 20th century? A day-long odyssey documenting all of the idiosyncrasies that make Dublin special. However, in recent years Dublin has experienced the negative effects of a financial boom, the Celtic Tiger all over again.
The city skyline has been littered with cranes and construction sites building a host of hotels and apartments, that will undoubtedly be rented out for extortionate rates. In order to develop these new properties, developers have had to demolish older sites to make space. This has lead to a string of protests and demonstrations against these new sites, and the beginning of the movement titled ‘Dublin is Dying’.
While the slogan is a tad hyperbolic, the movement has gained some momentum in recent years, with the protests outside The Cobblestone being an obvious example. On the 9th of October 2021, close to a thousand Dubliners marched from The Cobblestone Bar in Smithfield to the government administrative offices in Wood Quay, in protest against the building of a hotel above the pub. This hotel was to be built in place of the famous live music venue above The Cobblestone, one of the few places left in the city where trad music is still celebrated.
There are countless other examples, such as the ‘Save Tolka Park’ movement, or the outrage against the ‘greed’ hotel being constructed on the popular square in Portobello often filled with skaters.
It feels as if our horizons are growing more cluttered with each passing day, as if the skyline is being stabbed with a new apartment block each week. Yet with each new development, a new face can be seen in the protest against it. And so, I am quietly confident that Dublin won’t go out without a fight.