Martin Keane should be held to account for his role in destroying the Iveagh Markets and no planning application from him should be accepted or tolerated
People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith this morning expressed shock and disgust that despite Dublin City Council asserting last month that his right to develop the iconic markets is no longer valid, Martin Keane plans to submit a planning application to Dublin City Council at the end of this month.
Bríd Smith TD said: “The state into which the markets have fallen was described by the Council as ‘extremely alarming’ and ‘in an advanced state of dereliction’ in a report issued earlier this month. This is a disgrace and this happened on Martin Keane’s watch. He has had twenty years to do something about this and instead has allowed this beautiful, historic and iconic building to fall into this condition.
“Time is of the essence, we have to act now to save this building and that plan should not and cannot include the person who has caused this destruction. Instead of hanging his head in shame he is threatening to throw huge financial resources behind a legal campaign and in doing so is holding the city and her people to ransom while risking even further delays and even further dilapidation of the building. This is not acceptable. Martin Keane should be held to account for his role in destroying the Iveagh Markets and no planning application from him should be accepted or tolerated.”
People Before Profit Dublin City Councillor Tina MacVeigh added:
“There is a local grass roots campaign, ‘Reclaim the Iveagh Markets’, that has been rallying support for the return of the markets to the control of the council and the people of this city. There is huge support for this out there. Lots of people who have living memory of the markets have made contact with the campaign. On foot of a proposal made by myself to the Council, funding has been secured to conduct a public consultation to both capture the people’s history of the markets and to document the vision of the community for the development of the markets. The development should be for the people and by the people.
“With all of the developer and profit led development that is happening in our area, apart hotels, hotels, build to rent luxury apartments, luxury student accommodation and now the proposals around co-living, it is time we saw development that is community led, that is sustainable and is of genuine benefit to the community and the people of the city.
“Any application for planning permission submitted by Mr. Keane will be met with a wave of resistance and objection from the community and it must be wholly rejected by the city planners from the very outset. If Mr. Keane really cared about the markets he would back off.”
