MEP Cuffe says Cobblestone development is “monument to greed”

Green Party MEP Ciaran Cuffe has described the nine-storey hotel being proposed for the site of the historic Cobblestone pub in Smithfield as “over-scaled, crude and soulless monument to greed.”

Cuffe has submitted an objection to the proposal, with dozens more expected in advance of the November 4 deadline for observations.

The planning application for the hotel had been lodged by Marron Estates Ltd, and covers the lands and buildings at 77-80, King Street North, at the north end of Smithfield, Dublin 7.

In his submission, Cuffe said the proposed development will dominate and dwarf the adjacent listed buildings at 77, 80 and 81 King Street North, and is completely out of scale with its surroundings.

He said the Dublin City Development Plan seeks to promote the enhancement of existing cultural assets and the development of emerging cultural clusters and character areas.

He said that the proposed reduction in the floor area of the Cobblestone pub will adversely impact its cultural role as well as its probable closure for many years if the development proceeds.

He said the importance of a protected structure is not limited to its physical presence but is based in legislation on its interest from an architectural, historical, archaeological, artistic, cultural, scientific, social, or technical point of view.

“The provision of a major development in the vicinity of this institution has the capacity to destroy or significantly disrupt the cultural treasure that the Cobblestone represents in the life of the city.

“The Cobblestone has been at the heart of Dublin’s thriving live music scene since the last century, and it would be a shame to see it engulfed by a modern hotel that would inevitable alter its character.”

Cuffe also said that the hotel would be in breach of the local designation as an area for low-rise development.

“The breaching of the [Development] Plan is a breach of contract between the citizens and the State,” he said.

“If such an over-scaled development is to be granted it should be by way of material contravention of the Plan.

“The proposed development would have a dramatic and irreversible impact on the surrounding protected structures and should be refused.

“I want to see this part of the city developed further but it has to be done in a sensitive manner that respects the scale and importance of the surrounding buildings,” he said.

“The proposed development takes its cue from the vacuous mediocrity of nearby dull 1990s tax-driven developments and adds the design equivalent of steroids to produce an over-scaled, crude, and soulless monument to greed. Dublin can and must do better.”