Hotel Development causing trouble for horse owners

Two new hotels have been planned for construction in the Liberties area and they are already causing concern to locals. 

These concerns have been brought up especially among horse owners in the city who have already called for a purpose-built facility for horses to be built in the south inner city. 

There are currently 30 licensed horse carriage drivers around Dublin city which mainly operate on St Stephen’s Green and near the Guinness Storehouse. 

Although the area around the stables in Molyneux Lane, off Thomas Street, has caused much debate about crime in the area, some people believe that the tradition of horses occupying the area should be kept alive. 

Darragh Reid of the South Inner City Community Development Association (SICCDA) said most residents in the vicinity would welcome redevelopment of the laneway as it had problems of drug dealing and anti-social activity. 

Carriage drivers have their horses in the stables right next to where the 185 bedroom Vicar Street hotel is being constructed. The building will be eight stories high. 

Further down the laneway, permission was granted for another hotel, the Molyneux, with 244 bedrooms, but this has since been appealed to An Bord Pleanála. 

According to an article on RTÉ, Holly Ward, the first woman to hold a carriage driver’s licence in the city, said there would be “chaos” if horse owners had to move out of the laneway, because of the difficulty in getting horse accommodation in an urban area. 

“While historically there is a culture of keeping horses in an urban area,” Gillian Bird of the DSPCA told The LIberty, “their welfare is very important – including correct food, water, appropriate shelter, access to be able to express normal behaviour such as socialising with other horses, rolling and running in a grassy field and areas that are free from hazards such as barbed wire and litter.”

Photo credits: Julia Brennan