Dublin councillors at odds over homeless hostel plans

Former Fitzwilliam Street hotel earmarked for homeless unit

A homeless man photographed on Wolfe Tone Quay in Dublin earlier this year. Dublin City Council wants to turn a former hotel in Georgian buildings on Fitzwilliam Street into a supported temporary accommodation unit for 30 men and women.  Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons/The Irish Times
A homeless man photographed on Wolfe Tone Quay in Dublin earlier this year. Dublin City Council wants to turn a former hotel in Georgian buildings on Fitzwilliam Street into a supported temporary accommodation unit for 30 men and women. Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons/The Irish Times

Dublin city councillors are at odds over plans to open a homeless hostel in the city’s south Georgian conservation area.

The council wants to turn a former hotel in Georgian buildings on Fitzwilliam Street into a supported temporary accommodation unit for 30 men and women.

The council bought Longfield’s Hotel seven years ago at the height of the property market for almost €7 million.

The hotel, about 100 metres from Merrion Square and opposite ESB’s headquarters, has been vacant since then and has cost the council more than €300,000 in security and maintenance services.

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The location is in the heart of the south Georgian core, which the council wants to re-establish as an upmarket residential area.

Director of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, Cathal Morgan, told councillors the service provider would have to sign up to a community charter which would govern relations between the hostel and residents and businesses.

The public will be able to make submissions on the plans.

Olivia Kelly

Olivia Kelly

Olivia Kelly is Dublin Editor of The Irish Times