{"id":596816,"date":"2026-08-18T07:54:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T07:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/596816\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T07:54:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T07:54:15","slug":"the-fight-to-save-dublins-liberties-its-sadly-dying-fading-away-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/596816\/","title":{"rendered":"The fight to save Dublin\u2019s Liberties: \u2018It\u2019s sadly dying, fading away\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Dublin<\/a>\u2019s Liberties, there lies a small but powerful footnote that tells the story of one man and his fight to protect his neighbourhood\u2019s heritage. <\/p>\n

While the granite kerb stones across the road from Noel Clarke\u2019s house on Sweeney\u2019s Terrace are something that may only be grazed by shoe soles, they embody the soul of a resilient community. <\/p>\n

Clarke moved to the area in the 1960s and lived there with his wife Kay until his death last year. His daughter Gr\u00e1inne describes her father as a man who loved the Liberties and \u201cwas a law unto himself\u201d. <\/p>\n

She remembers when construction work began across the road from her father\u2019s house in the late 2010s. Noel decided to stand on the path to block the removal of the granite kerb stones that had been in the neighbourhood for so long. <\/p>\n

Gr\u00e1inne recalls how he inspired neighbours to follow suit, and they protested for about three days, saving the kerb stones. <\/p>\n

\"GraniteGranite kerb stones in Sweeney’s Terrace across from Noel Clarke’s home <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a union man … anything that\u2019s going on, he was in the middle of it all, and he was sorting it all out,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

The kerb stones remain across the road from Noel Clarke\u2019s house, a legacy to him and the resilience of the Liberties. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday, local historian James Madigan will lead a Community Resistance Against Gentrification walking tour through the Liberties. Along the way, he will share stories, like Clarke\u2019s, about historic locations and the people they mean so much to. <\/p>\n

Madigan says the large amount of development in the area has left locals feeling their community is endangered and \u201cthat\u2019s a constant everyday battle in the Liberties\u201d. He believes changes to the area in recent years have left some spaces feeling disjointed. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is just a horrible mishmash of big individual developments, and we\u2019re left with really odd spaces,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

He references a small vacant site on the corner of St Luke\u2019s Avenue and Brabazon Place. As a result of a disagreement, this \u201cdead space\u201d consists largely of cement and is surrounded by a fence. \u201cThis is a community resource … it\u2019s just one example of the space we need.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"LocalLocal Historian James Madigan \"VacantVacant site on the corner of St Luke’s Avenue and Brabazon Place. Photograph: Ellen Clusker <\/p>\n

People walking around the Liberties will see many closed large steel gates. Madigan says this is a problem, with many in the community feeling excluded from spaces. <\/p>\n

The closure of Warrenmount Adult Education Centre last June represented the loss of \u201ca vital resource for a lot of the community\u201d, he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe might have lost that simple way that 10 people can come together and go yapping, without it being a pub, without there being religion.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Donore Avenue Community Centre was a hub in the area but is under reconstruction following a 2021 fire. Madigan describes the area as aching for resources and asks how a community can \u201cmobilise\u201d if locals have not got a room to meet in.<\/p>\n

Paul Green (70), a retired postman, has lived in the Tenters area of the Liberties for his entire life. His family were among the original occupants of the houses in Fairbrother\u2019s Fields, as the area is officially known. His grandfather moved into the house in 1924, with generations of the family living there since. <\/p>\n

\"PaulPaul Green outside his house on Clarence Mangan Road. Photograph: Ellen Clusker <\/p>\n

Green says the community in the Liberties means everything to him. \u201cBut it\u2019s all changing, it\u2019s all new people coming in. You don\u2019t know the neighbours.\u201d <\/p>\n

He speaks fondly of the camaraderie that was so strong in the area, reminiscing about residents minding each other\u2019s children and games of football in the street being interrupted by requests from neighbours to fetch milk from the shop. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s sadly dying, fading away,\u201d Green says of his concern for the area\u2019s future. \u201cWhat\u2019s the next generation going to be after us? Are they going to be as passionate?\u201d <\/p>\n

Madigan says a good amount of the development work in the area \u2013 student accommodation and luxury hotels \u2013 \u201cdoesn\u2019t help our kids\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the next generation [that] are being priced out of the area,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

The walking tour takes place as part of National Heritage Week, with \u201cHeritage at Risk\u201d being the theme for this year. Madigan hopes to commemorate stories of community resistance and capture some of the spirit of the Liberties. <\/p>\n

He plans to stop outside Throwing Shapes, a ceramics studio. The owner, Siofra Murdock, says the studio is somewhere people can go to meet and chat \u201cthat isn\u2019t home and isn\u2019t work\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who come here are from their 20s to their 70s, and there\u2019s just a natural conversation there because you already have something in common even being in the space together.\u201d <\/p>\n

The tour will begin at 5.30pm in Newmarket, across from the Premier Inn, and take participants to Ward\u2019s Hill, Mill Street and Sweeney\u2019s Terrace before finishing on Ardee Street. The route will feature a stop in the Aloft hotel\u2019s rooftop bar to view the Dublin skyline. <\/p>\n

Madigan accepts there is a nuance to the range of issues facing the area and that there is no \u201csilver bullet\u201d solution. <\/p>\n

He welcomes employment being brought to the Liberties and new people arriving who appreciate the area.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Tenters stone sign in the Liberties. Photograph: Ellen Clusker <\/p>\n

Recently, Dublin City Council decided to advance plans to designate the Tenters as an architectural conservation area to preserve its character. This followed a campaign from residents. <\/p>\n

Madigan hopes for \u201ca more enlightened, holistic and properly empowering\u201d approach to the planning of the area in the future, with \u201cmore community involvement\u201d in the process. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Dublin\u2019s Liberties, there lies a small but powerful footnote that tells the story of one man and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":596817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[615,13288,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-596816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-dublin","tag-dublin-city-council","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596816","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=596816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}