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Wetherspoons in Keavan’s Port Hotel, Camden Street Alamy Stock Photo

Residents brand Camden Street a urine-soaked 'swill pit' as they rage against Wetherspoon's plans

A spokesperson for Wetherspoon said it is reviewing the response to the planning application and will work to address the concerns raised.

UK PUB GIANT Wetherspoon has been accused of trying to turn a ‘super-pub’ into a ‘mega-pub’ by planning to reopen a courtyard at its Keaven’s Port hotel on Dublin’s Camden Street.

Last month JD Wetherspoon plc lodged plans for a two inch thick 13-foot high acoustic glass screen that would allow it to re-open a courtyard at the pub.

However, the West of Camden Residents Association, the Grantham Street Residents Association along with individuals are objecting.

On behalf of the West of Camden Residents Association, James Wickham has told the council that the opening of the courtyard would mean that the super-pub would become a mega-pub “which is totally unsuitable to Camden Street’s scale and character”.

A spokesperson for Wetherspoon said: “We are  reviewing the comments made in response to the application. We will work with Dublin City Council to address the concerns raised as part of the application process.”

Wickham says: “We believe that the proposal should be rejected because it intensifies the drinking occupation at Keaven’s Port and exacerbates the destruction of Camden Street as one of Dublin’s urban villages”.

Lamenting the changing face of Camden Street with an increased number of pubs, Wickham said “over the last decade, the street has changed from a village high street to an evening swill pit. Instead of eyes on the street we have urine in the gutter.”

He said: “Instead of tolerating an increasing expansion of drinking establishments, planning needs to facilitate more appropriate uses of the street that will return the street to the city.”

Wickham says that “this required a complete stop to any further expansion of hotels and licensed premises, in particular a halt to the further development of super-pubs such as Wetherspoons”.

He says before and after drinking in Wetherspoons, large crowds of young drinkers congregate on the street.

Wickham said: “Most of us who actually live in the immediate vicinity now avoid the street in the evenings: there is a major public order issue with on-street drinking, even public urination – in side streets, there is open drug dealing.

He said that “the situation on Camden Street, already strained by an over-proliferation of pubs, is exacerbated by Wetherspoons – the expansion of Wetherspoons will only make these problems worse”.

Chairperson of the Grantham Street Residents Association, Niamh Moran has told the Council that the increase in customer numbers is likely to exacerbate issues in relation to public nuisance.

Moran states that “patrons leaving the premises are often loud and abusive. They often discard empty bottles, vomit or urinate in local gardens and cause damage to local property”.

Moran states that “these activities not only degrade the local environment but also create an unpleasant and unsafe atmosphere for residents and other members of the public”.

Moran also expressed concern over increased drug dealing in the area which “appears to be driven by the influx of young patrons seeking a lively night out attracting drug dealers into the area”.

Calling on the Council to refuse planning, Moran contends that the proposal represents an intensification of a pub culture in the area.

Parents of a child attending the nearby D2 Montessori, Naoise McNally and Ronan Lyons strongly urge the Council to reject the application “in the interest of safeguarding our children and the community”.

The couple state: “Before Wetherspoons opened, the street was a safe and welcoming space. Since its opening, however, it has contributed to a decline in safety and public order.”

They state that the application poses serious risks to children and the community as it represents an unnecessary intensification for an already oversized super pub and will further deteriorate a fragile and unsafe environment for children.

In a planning submission, planning consultants for Wetherspoon, Brock McClure contend that the glass screen will result in noise levels being kept within acceptable limits, ensuring a more peaceful living environment for local residents.

They state that the proposed intervention of the glass screen “will allow for the amenity of the courtyard to be reinstated and enjoyed by hotel users and patrons again”.

JD Wetherspoon closed its beer garden at the venue in April 2022 in response to locals’ noise complaints over its operation and the beer garden has remained closed.

Brock McClure state that its closure “has been a considerable burden on the operation of the hotel and bar in economic and business terms”

In 2023, JD Wetherspoon abandoned its contentious plans to erect a 43 ft high sound barrier, dubbed “taller than the Berlin Wall” by one objector, after strong local opposition.

A decision is due on the new application in February.

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    Mute Joe Howard
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:02 PM

    This is so sad. There is something very dark and sinister about the Catholic Church in Ireland. They are like the mafia and think they’re untouchable. Time the truth was told.

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    Mute Clare O'Donoghue Velikić
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:11 PM

    And yet, despite all we know now about the physical, psychological and sexual abuse, we still allow the Catholic Church and its institutions to be interwoven with our taxpayer-funded education and healthcare systems.

    We still put our weak and vulnerable in their care. Today.

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    Mute Eye_c_u
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 8:11 PM

    Clare it defies logic. I see a lot of young people under 30 going to mass. 90 %still want to marry in a Catholic church.

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    Mute Róisín
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:07 PM

    This turns my stomach and I thought I couldn’t be shocked by any of our sordid past at this stage. Who are these people, with such little regard for human life?

    Don’t get me started on Terry effing Prone and the Communications Clinic…

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    Mute Michael Lynch
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:39 PM

    @Raisin: Terry Prone, the devil’s advocate.

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    Mute Michael Lynch
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:40 PM

    Sorry, Roisin.

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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:08 PM

    As long as there is no abortion, who cares about young babies and young mothers. Who cares about sewerage chambers. Just think of the foetus. On,y the foetus counts.

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    Mute Mary Murphy
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 5:57 PM

    It wasn’t God who did this. It was power hungry bad people who used his name to do it. Once again we are shamed by our history. Those poor kids

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    Mute Mary Murphy
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 5:59 PM

    @Mary Murphy and the Mothers as well as the children

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    Mute Carl Nolan
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:04 PM

    @Mary Murphy: Yes, God only does the good things. The bad things are because of humans. Religion logic.

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    Mute Stephen Connor
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:06 PM

    Obviously it wasn’t god, imaginary sky fairy’s don’t have the power to do things like that

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    Mute Paul Fahey
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:08 PM

    Mary Murphy – well he didn’t bloody stop it either did he, but then he wasn’t moved enough by the rape of all the Irish children either. In fact, what will make him show himself, he did not even step in when his chosen people were subject to genocide.

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    Mute Matt Beaumont
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:23 PM

    @Mary

    Your “God” doesn’t exist!

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    Mute Mary Murphy
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:26 PM

    Matt I don’t practice any religion but it’s man’s humanity to man that leaves a lot to be desired. What is and was done in God’s name is an excuse to justify it

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    Mute Mary Murphy
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:28 PM

    Carl I don’t practice any religion but what was done in God’s name was to control people and it was done by people.

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    Mute Mary Murphy
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:31 PM

    George I too would love to know. And to think that poor Grace was living in hell recently whilst the people who are still in power is enough to sicken an elephant. Nothing changes apart from tribunal’s

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    Mute Michael Lynch
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:43 PM

    @Paul Fahey: agree completely. But as the Sunday morning righteous would say ‘He’s testing us’.

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    Mute John Moriarty
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    Mar 4th 2017, 5:44 PM

    @Paul Fahey: going right back to the old testament, that very same so called god commanded the genocide of the neighbouring tribes. If ever you wanted proof that religion was principally a propaganda device, look no further

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    Mute Pat O'Connor
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:07 PM

    Irelands Auschwitz. A sickening tragedy.

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    Mute Anne Marie Devlin
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:06 PM

    It’s beyond words. Another useless tribunal with no one held to account to come. Tuam babies, Grace and the McCabe scandal. State bodies for health and children implicated in all of them.

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    Mute Mary Murphy
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 8:24 PM

    Anne Marie exactly. Another bad….. well I’m lost for words on this

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    Mute mary
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    Mar 4th 2017, 3:42 AM

    I guess this will be an Unaccepted comment but I have to make it. Where is the responsibility of the parents who condemned their daughters to these homes? I get the church thing and the embarrassment for families. I lived it. But the parents who gave their daughters up to these facilities? Why do we not lay some of the blame on them? The facilities that accepted these unwanted Girls provided a service. Obviously a bad service, but their families dumped them. I cannot accept the family abandonment. Despite the social standards of the time how did mothers and fathers live with the denial of their child and grandchild. There is no easy answer here. We can not condemn one group without looking at the whole picture,

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    Mute John Moriarty
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    Mar 4th 2017, 5:39 PM

    @mary: thank you for making this excellent point

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    Mute Emmet O'Keeffe
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:56 PM

    What a country.
    What a history.
    Still the same lack of accountability even to this day.

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    Mute Daisy Daisy
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:05 PM

    Thus wasn’t god’s doing because god doesn’t exist. If it did, then its a very sad indictment of the absolute dregs of humanity it chose to represent itself on Earth.

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    Mute Paraic McDonagh
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:14 PM

    @Daisy Daisy: How do you know God doesn’t exist? Have you a scientific explanation for the existence of virtually infinite matter?

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    Mute Matt Beaumont
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:25 PM

    Well if God exists he/she is an evil vile fecker!

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    Mute Jimmyjoe Wallace
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:40 PM

    So what you’re saying Paraic is that everything we can’t explain, we can put down to a God whose existence we also can’t explain?

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    Mute Paraic McDonagh
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:46 PM

    @Jimmyjoe Wallace: I didn’t say that at all. But if a God did exist, it wouldn’t be any less incredible than the existence of the universe.

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    Mute qe5000
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 6:08 PM

    what the hell was wrong with these people? no excuse

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    Mute Kev Creed
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 8:27 PM

    And to think they wanted pennies for the black babies…Wool pulled over our eyes

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    Mute June Rose-Sommer
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    Mar 4th 2017, 8:54 AM

    I’m sure Terry Prone is eating crow now!! It’s just appalling what happened to those babies and small children!! Dumped in a septic tank!! All in the name of Christianity!! Poor little mites!! R.I.P. little angels!! I hope this won’t be swept under the Catholic Carpet!!!

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    Mute JustMade Ireland
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 7:52 PM

    The church was built on paganism, before the church we lived in a very hard world were you could be attacked and killed by animals other humans, raped, murder, robed, made a slave etc.. We class our self’s as one human but we are not some men and women would be happy with multiple partners and children from different fathers,others it one partner one father.

    The church was probably started by a few good strong clever people, who saw the way of paganism as wrong, with only the strong ruling the land, where people could be harmed at any time, where people starved.

    It got the weeker on board, it seen people with one life partner and children from one father less wild due to both loving parents been there to keep check, it seen when people work and live togetter they fight less. With this in the early days the church brought peace to the land and more join as it was better than living day by day.

    But over the years it either misinterpreted it founding ways, the evil people who in the day of paganism got in and changed things,

    Like with most with power without question or vote leads to corruption.

    With this other groups formed, all with the same thing anything that resembles the days of paganism they destroy without though.

    Even today any religions group has these views, and today we live more in line with our pagan ancestors that values of the the church.

    The only good thing the church has done it has given us a better world, where most live by the law and get punished by it. If not we could be still running around killing one another

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    Mute Brian MacCarthaigh
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 8:01 PM

    @JustMade Ireland:Did you stop taking your tablets?

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    Mute Jimmy Burn
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 9:34 PM

    @JustMade Ireland: are you serious,religion causes most of the wars

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    Mute Ciaran De Bhal
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    Mar 3rd 2017, 9:44 PM

    I’m sure all of that made sense in your own head as you were typing it. I understand the sentiment but the execution is atrocious.

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    Mute John Moriarty
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    Mar 4th 2017, 5:52 PM

    @JustMade Ireland: it might be worthwhile considering that paganism was not all savagery. It’s an unspoken but untrue assumption that religion is needed for morality. However there is the empirical data pointing the reverse.

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