The redevelopment of one of Dublin city’s most notorious derelict buildings as a potential template for inner-city regeneration recommended by the Taoiseach’s Dublin taskforce can finally proceed following the resolution of an ownership dispute.
Dublin City Council has become the legal owner of the former Neary’s pub and hotel at 77-78 Parnell Street, after the High Court dismissed judicial review proceedings against the council’s acquisition of the buildings under the Derelict Sites Act.
The prominent Victorian building close to the O’Connell Street end of Parnell Street has been vacant for at least 20 years and has become increasingly derelict over the last decade.
In 2015 it was taken over by squatters claiming to be anarchists and the building was given the moniker the Barricade Inn. The squatters stayed for almost a year before being evicted by order of the High Court in 2016 following an application by Vandelure Ltd, a company with a freehold interest in the property.
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The company at the time said the eviction was essential because the building was in an extremely dangerous condition and the floors on each level had rotted and partially fallen through.
The building, a protected structure, mostly dates from the 1850s when it was developed as a hotel. However, substantial parts of the structure are at least 100 years older, with a mid-18th-century staircase in the centre of it.
It had previously been operated as a guest house by Ellen McGuill, who died in 2002, with the property understood to have been left to Scottish Catholic clergy. But the will was never executed due to McGuill having no known living relatives to enact it, with a series of legal issues following.
Vandelure had during the 2016 court proceedings said it intended to sell the building, but this did not happen and the company was dissolved in March 2021. The council placed the property on a derelict register in December of 2021 and subsequently moved to acquire it under the Derelict Sites Act. The “vesting orders”, which confer all rights and titles to the building to the council, came into force in May 2024.
However, these orders were challenged in the High Court by Telstar Investments, which had earlier acquired the property. Telstar, which is connected to publican and hotelier Noel Murray, who owns several venues in the city centre including Fibber Magees next door to Neary’s, had sought to have the vesting order quashed.
The High Court this month ruled that the company was outside the time limitation for taking the challenge, there was no “good and sufficient reason” for the delay in taking the challenge and the delay was not outside the company’s control.
The new special purpose vehicle (SPV) recommended by the Taoiseach’s Dublin taskforce is expected to be established in the coming months and will have a specific mandate to regenerate derelict inner-city buildings, particularly in the O’Connell Street area.
Green Party councillor Janet Horner said the SPV could be used as the “developer” of Neary’s, providing a “cheaper and more efficient way of turning around derelict sites”.
“This building is a chance for the city council to trial what that body of work for the SPV will look like. We should be acquiring derelict properties, renovating them to include housing and then finding cost-efficient ways to sell the housing to AHBs [approved housing bodies] to operate as social housing, or selling on any commercial or housing aspects if that is what is best for the site.”
The council said it is considering the future use and development of Neary’s.
Attempts to contact Telstar Investments for comment were unsuccessful.
