The owners of one of Dublin’s oldest pubs have called on Transport Infrastructure Ireland to rename a proposed MetroLink station ‘Brian Boru’ in tribute to the site where public premises has stood for 200 years.
The Brian Boru in Glasnevin has been earmarked for demolition as part of the transport system.
Under TII plans, it will be demolished to make way for a new MetroLink station on the same site.
The Hedigan family have owned the well-known pub since 1904 and are celebrating their 120th anniversary of ownership.
In a submission to An Bord Pleanála inspectors, Michael Hedigan said the building has been mentioned in great Irish literary works including James Joyce’s Ulysses and James Plunkett’s Strumpet City.
“The pub is a hugely important part of Glasnevin history,” Mr Hedigan said.
It was built on the site where Brian Boru’s army camped before the Battle of Clontarf in 1014.
The oral hearings into the MetroLink project heard that five generations of the Hedigan family have worked in the premises.
“We want to make sure that the presence of the pub is recorded properly on site,” Mr Hedigan told inspectors.
A pub has been on the site, close to the Royal Canal, bordering Phibsborough and Glasnevin, for two centuries.
“That’s a long time looking after the people of Glasnevin,” Mr Hedigan added.
The family said that they have been told that the premises “is the most important site on the whole of the MetroLink”, adding that “we feel like that we’re getting caught in the middle”.
Mr Hedigan said the family have spent the equivalent of 175 years working and looking after customers.
The owners said the demise of the Brian Boru will be sorely missed in Glasnevin and the wider Dublin area.
The loss of the pub will have a “profound effect” on the Hedigan family and its members called on TII to remember the premises “correctly and properly”.
They asked TII to change the name of the proposed Glasnevin station to something more appropriate to the area.
They suggested Brian Boru Station or the Prospect Road Station as more suitable choices.
The Hedigan’s said their pub has a beautiful, much-loved facade that has been minded by the family since 1904.
The brothers said they would consider donating it to a museum in the area so that it is remembered or incorporated in some way into the new metro station.
TII said it regrets the need to take over a “much loved institution”.
Project Director Aidan Foley said the pub will be “sorely missed” by customers and the public in the Glasnevin area.
TII said it would consider incorporating the name plate of the pub into the station in some appropriate way.
The body said it cannot commit to renaming the station at this stage but it is open and willing to consider the proposal.
