FIFTY FOOT-HIGH posters of Queen Elizabeth and Barack Obama erected by entrepreneur Harry Crosbie at the Gibson Hotel, Point Village, Dublin, to welcome both visits, have been removed.
The posters were erected last Monday and removed on Thursday. There were reports that individuals had been threatening or abusive to hotel staff, but the hotel declined to comment publicly on the matter.
A spokesman for Mr Crosbie said the posters had been erected to celebrate both visits and that the US press corps for the presidential visit had booked rooms at the hotel. He said he did not wish to comment on their removal.
Planning enforcement officers from Dublin City Council attended the hotel on Thursday following a complaint the posters had been erected without planning permission, but a spokesman for the council said the posters had already been removed.
Meanwhile, Socialist republican party Éirígí has accused Dublin City Council of “political censorship” in banning posters advertising protests against Queen Elizabeth’s visit later this month.
The council said it has not banned any group’s posters but their erection would be “subject to restrictions” during the Queen’s visit. Éirígí this week applied to Dublin City Council to erect up to 2,000 posters advertising these protests.
The council yesterday morning refused the application for posters advertising the Garden of Remembrance protest, described by Éirígí as a “Peace Camp”, which will maintain a presence at Parnell Square from Sunday, May 15th, until the Queen’s visit on May 17th.
In its response to Éirígí, the council wrote “no postering applications for events between 15th and 25th May are being granted in the interest of promoting a clean environment for Dublin city during forthcoming State visits”. The council later told the group the posters could be erected as long as they were removed by May 15th.
Éirígí councillor Louise Minihan said the decision was an “outrageous attack” on political expression and the right to organise.
A spokesman for the council yesterday denied there was a blanket ban on postering, but confirmed the group had been told to remove the Garden of Remembrance poster by May 15th: “Postering will be subject to restrictions from the 16th to the 23rd because we want to keep the city as litter-free as possible, but any applications for postering during this time will be considered on their own merits.”
