The Bottle Makers Hall in Ringsend has come under some scrutiny for its current state. The building, located at 1A Irishtown Road has been left vacant for a number of years and has been the focus of dispute by local resident George Kearns.
“The outside appearance of the Bottle Hands Hall is in a sorry looking state,” he said. “I can only wonder at what the inside of this quite serious piece of heritage looks like,” he said.
The building is listed as a protected structure in a planning, heritage and conservation document compiled by the City Council in 2010 which outlines a number of protected buildings and structures including: the Irishtown Gospel Hall (Formerly known as St. Matthew’s School,) a former Garda station, Clarke’s licenses premises, St. Matthew’s Church, and a number of properties in Ballsbridge and other parts of the Dublin 4 area.
The future of the building is a bit unclear as it remains vacant and without any sense of future. “This building may well be about to suffer the same faith as did our beloved Hailing Station on Britain Quay, which quite simply disappeared off the face of the earth early one Sunday morning in June of 2007,” said Mr. Kearns.
According to Mr. Kearns nobody will speak about the “disappearance” of that building and after many attempts to gain information from the Docklands Development Authority his appeals have fallen on deaf ears.
Bottle Hands Hall meanwhile continues to be a point of frustration for the community. Approached for comment Labour Cllr. Gerry Ashe said that she will question the City Manager at the next meeting of the Dublin City Council in relation to the matter.
For Mr. Kearns, the future of the site is very much unsecure at this stage and protected sites should indeed be valued and protected.
By Liam Cahill
