{"id":470539,"date":"2026-05-28T02:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T02:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/470539\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T02:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T02:01:11","slug":"activist-trespass-at-ardee-house-pub-in-dublin-must-end-high-court-orders-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/470539\/","title":{"rendered":"Activist trespass at Ardee House pub in Dublin must end, High Court orders \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Activists calling themselves the Revolutionary Housing League, who broke into the former Ardee Pub in Dublin\u2019s Liberties area, intending to reopen it as a community centre, were today restrained by the High Court from continuing their trespass on the premises. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Barrister Ross Gorman told Judge Michael Quinn that the buildings housing the old pub at numbers 1 and 2 Chamber Street, Dublin 8, were in a state of deterioration and partial collapse inside and were a danger to those who had unlawfully taken it over.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">He said the trespassers claimed on social media that they would open it as the Anne Devlin Community Centre and planned a house and street party and barbecue, possibly with the unlicensed sale of alcohol, next Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Gorman, who appeared with BHSM Solicitors for the property owners, Black Sheep Investments Limited, told the court that, according to social media posts, the trespassers had already carried out physical changes to the interior of the building and planned to do more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Jack Teeling, of Castle Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin 3, stated in written evidence that he was a director of Black Sheep Investments which owned the properties and the company had very recently become aware that a number of unidentified individuals had commenced trespassing and intended to open a cafe and community centre there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Gorman said the trespass had come to light through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/ireland\/social-affairs\/2026\/05\/25\/activists-occupy-dublin-pub-closed-since-2010-planning-to-reopen-as-community-space\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/ireland\/social-affairs\/2026\/05\/25\/activists-occupy-dublin-pub-closed-since-2010-planning-to-reopen-as-community-space\/\">an article<\/a> in The Irish Times on Monday by its Social Affairs correspondent, Kitty Holland, who had highlighted the break-in and plans posted by the Revolutionary Housing League for the property.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Teeling told the court the old Ardee Pub premises on the corner of Ardee Street had been sold by Teeling Whiskey Company to Black Sheep Investments in 2017. Black Sheep had unsuccessfully sought planning permission for part demolition of the property with the construction of 14 apartments over five or six floors with a community facility at ground level.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"The interior of Ardee House, a disused pub in Dublin's Liberties which activists have occupied with the aim of using it as a community centre. Photograph: Kitty Holland\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779933671_970_X5WN4DIT45ETPLK2UXW6O6MFXM.jpeg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"600\"\/>The interior of Ardee House, a disused pub in Dublin&#8217;s Liberties which activists have occupied with the aim of using it as a community centre. Photograph: Kitty Holland <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">He said a new planning application had been submitted to Dublin City Council on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Teeling stated that, unbeknown to Black Sheep Investments, a number of unidentified individuals broke into the property, which he first became aware of when contacted by Holland to comment on the occupation. He had called the garda\u00ed but they had left, considering the trespass a civil matter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Consulting engineers, before applications for planning permission, had reported that the buildings were completely unsuitable to be used as a cafe or a community centre. He had learned the trespassers intended to restore beer taps and store beer, indicating that alcohol may be served without a drinks license.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Gorman said that solicitors for the owners had pinned a letter on the front door of the premises telling those inside that they were there without the owner\u2019s consent and warning them they were carrying out activities which posed a risk to the health and safety of all who illegally entered the property.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">He said the occupants had not left the property despite having been called on to immediately vacate and cease their activities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The judge said the court had heard sufficient evidence of trespass and of the risk to health and safety to the occupants and he considered there was an urgency for the granting of injunctions against the occupants and anyone else with knowledge of the court\u2019s orders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The court orders restrain the unidentified occupants from continuing to trespass and from interfering with the property. The proceedings will return to the High Court on June 3rd.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The judge said service should be made by attachment of notice of the court\u2019s decision on the door of the property and, if possible, personally on those present. Service could also be made through an email address which the occupants had posted online.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Activists calling themselves the Revolutionary Housing League, who broke into the former Ardee Pub in Dublin\u2019s Liberties area,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43,203272],"class_list":["post-470539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-the-ardee-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}