{"id":481551,"date":"2026-06-03T21:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T21:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/481551\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T21:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T21:10:08","slug":"occupiers-of-former-pub-in-dublins-liberties-ordered-not-to-allow-members-of-public-access-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/481551\/","title":{"rendered":"Occupiers of former pub in Dublin\u2019s Liberties ordered not to allow members of public access \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two men occupying a former pub in Dublin<\/a>\u2019s Liberties have been court ordered not to invite others or allow members of the public on the property pending further order due to concerns over the building\u2019s structural safety. <\/p>\n

Eoghan Lynch and Se\u00e1n Doyle, who said they are members of the Revolutionary Housing League, must also not carry out any work to Ardee House, Chamber Street, over the next week.<\/p>\n

Judge Brian Cregan said in the High Court<\/a> that he would not continue an interim trespass order granted last week against the defendants and against unknown persons in occupation of the property, as the two men had said they wished to contest that. <\/p>\n

Lynch told the court he was the only occupant of the premises while Doyle said he was an occasional occupant. A number of people turned up in the public gallery to hear the matter.<\/p>\n

Lynch said they were looking for time to seek legal advice over the proceedings by the owners, Black Sheep Investments Ltd, which the court heard was bought in 2016 by Teeling Whiskey from a liquidator which assigned it to Black Sheep. It was last used as a pub in 2011.<\/p>\n

Ross Gorman, barrister for Black Sheep, said the individuals involved are trespassing and operating a cafe from the building which was structurally unsafe. A garden party was held there last Saturday and meetings were also held there, he said.<\/p>\n

His client first became aware of trespass after planning notices were erected on the site and they were also contacted by a journalist. Garda\u00ed visited the premises but ultimately determined it was a civil matter.<\/p>\n

Gorman said an engineers\u2019 report had identified serious structural issues relating to load-bearing walls and that extensive temporary propping of walls will be required. Counsel said it is planned to build apartments on the site.<\/p>\n

Doyle, who said he was representing the Revolutionary Housing League, said the revolutionary workers\u2019 council passed a resolution some years ago in favour of the \u201cacquisition\u201d of long-time vacant property.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Activists occupy Dublin pub closed since 2010, planning to reopen as community spaceOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

His group believes the Government has failed to do similar and \u201chas allowed people to freeze on doorsteps\u201d and to protect property with little or no regard for human life.<\/p>\n

He believed the engineer\u2019s report provided to the court was biased and was in effect a \u201creport for demolition\u201d. He said his group was \u201cnot stupid and if anything was unsafe we would not let anyone go near it\u201d. <\/p>\n

Asked by the judge if he was an engineer, he said he was not but had worked in the building trade and he knew \u201cwhat is structurally going to come down on top of me\u201d.<\/p>\n

The judge said it was a very serious issue for unsuspecting members of the public to be invited on the premises for a coffee on which there was no insurance and where they could be seriously or fatally injured.<\/p>\n

This was the first trespass case he had before him where members of the public were being invited on to a property and regardless of what Doyle said the court could go only on evidence which was an engineering report which said it was unsafe, he said. <\/p>\n

Doyle said: \u201cWe are trying to help people, not injure them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge said he would adjourn the matter for a week so the defendants could file replying affidavits. <\/p>\n

However, he was granting an injunction restraining any member of the public, or anyone other than the two defendants, from going on to the property. It would be a very serious matter if this was not complied with, he said.<\/p>\n

Asked by Lynch if they could carry out repairs, the judge told them they could not touch the building. \u201cNot a lick of paint,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two men occupying a former pub in Dublin\u2019s Liberties have been court ordered not to invite others or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[615,63274,73,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-481551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-dublin","tag-dublin-8","tag-high-court","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481551","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=481551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}