Labour leader Ivana Bacik among objectors to new Dublin hotel

Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik has questioned the need for another hotel in the Camden Street and Portobello area of Dublin “given our current housing and homelessness crisis”.

In May, ORHRE Camden Row Ltd lodged plans for a seven-storey, 195-bedroom hotel at 12 Camden Row.

In a submission on the scheme, Ms Bacik said “housing provision should be given priority over hotel development particularly given the housing need in the area”.

Ms Bacik has further said that “there is already a high density of hotels in the area”.

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A planning report lodged with the application confirms that there are 40 permitted and built hotels containing 3,984 hotel rooms between 500 metres and 1km of the site. Fifteen existing or approved hotels containing 1,463 rooms are within 500 metres of the site

“The provision of hotel accommodation typically contributes to the development of tourism in an area but tends to provide little added value to residents in the local community,” the Labour Party leader said.

In his submission, Independent Cllr Mannix Flynn described the number of hotels outlined as “staggering” and said the Camden Row application should not be entertained “until we see, actually see, the final outcome of the large development at Kevin Street, former DIT, and what impact this development will have on the future of this intact neighbourhood”.

Architect Paul Tyndall, in a submission on behalf of Camden Street-based businessman Philip Elliott, said the proposal would “compromise one of the last opportunities for a co-ordinated, master-planned regeneration of these critically important lands in Dublin 8″.

However, a planning consultant for the applicants, John Spain, said the hotel survey highlights “the modest provision of tourist accommodation within the immediate surrounding area”.

Mr Spain said that in considering the quantum of hotels in the surrounding area, it is important to note the absence of hotels in the immediate vicinity of the proposed site. The report states that “there are currently no hotels on Camden Row with just three existing hotels on Camden Street to the east”.