Upcoming closure of Liberties laneway

Swan Lane, located off Thomas Street in The Liberties, is set to become the second Dublin city alleyway to close due to improper use. 

The laneway is easy to miss as it is so narrow – however, it allows pedestrians to cut through it and emerge onto Hanbury Lane.

The laneway stands between two popular Irish food shops, Griolladh and Manning’s Bakery. It also provides access to a residential building which shares the laneway with the two businesses. 

Hanna Milian, Griolladh area manager, says the space is often occupied by drug users. “It’s just unsanitary. We work in the food industry, we shouldn’t even be walking through that.”

Not only is the laneway posing a sanitation issue, but also poses health and safety issues. “They sometimes sit and have their backs against our door and that’s a fire safety issue,” says Milian.

Both the adjacent businesses were broken into, two days apart, through their side doors located in the laneway, Milian says.

There is no definitive date yet for the closure of the laneway to the public. Dublin City Council appealed this month for representations or objections relating to the closure of Swan Alley.