state of railing at Four Courts

The same can be said of the statues (ie Moses, etc) adorning the top of the building…….badly corroded almost so that I’d say they’d need to be replaced now. But sure is’nt it only a shell partially restored like the Customs House too…..it’s originality destroyed in our troublesome history. Maybe spend a few bob and give these buildings a proper overhauling and restore them in full…..well to a more reasonable standard……..It’s deserves more justice ….if ye pardon the pun.

I remember they did some work on the too ‘courtyards'(if thats the best word for them) a few years back. Very little in the way of imagination used and obviously not enough time given to the railings. A lot of these major buildings seem to suffer from a lack of grounds maintainence (see Custom House and Kings Inn). A bit of unkempt grass out the front – that should do it. Theres a fountain in front of the Custom House thats never on. The trees on Beresford Place are so overgrown and of balanace that they ruin the views of the facade and the powers that be might consider taking down the railings completely and letting the area become a public green space (it being the Nation’ds property and all).

I dont know about that, every time I walk past Bank of Ireland on college green I cant help thinking of that amazing space without the railings, filled with people sitting on the steps and standing around chatting. It would be great to see the corpo do something about that, and there would be sufficient amounts of people passing by to discourage vandilism etc..

the railing sshould be left sa they are. has anyone seen the poor ‘civic space ?’ left after the removal of the railins in front of the chapel on church st.? some things are best left ‘unimproved’. does anybody know whose bright idea that was?

I don’t know how anyone can see the errection of the railings outside the central bank as a good idea not only because they are ugly but they have changed the plaza/civicspace and steps in front where all those “interesting” looking people hung out from the lively vibrant space that it was to a place with less importance within the centre of our city to say the least.
The space there was like a gift to the people of the city only to be taken back to be replaced by some ugly railings.It doesn’t really surprise me though that a bank could be mean and greedy so even if it migh be a good idea to create a public space in college green by removing railings I could never see it hapening if its owned by who it is owned by even if I agreed with the proposal,personally I’d prefere to see the railings taken down at the central bank but I never expect to see it. I’ll just walk past and every time I do reminice about the good ould days until the day I die but then again its what we all do if not there in many other places.

Have to agree about the Central Bank. The railings and associated ‘structure’ on this plaza look terrible. They completely take away from the effect of the building. I think the idea of a ‘colouful’ meeting area in front of this most ‘conservative’ of institution is positive.

regarding the central bank railings……what a disaster, they have destroyed the ONLY public space in Dublin that functions as a public space should, a place to sit, to meet, to pass through etc. it seems a ‘public space’ in dublin now consists of an area of land where things can happen-but only once a day/week/year, and they generally contain enough seating for about 10 people. the plaza at central bank really was unique, the contrast between the institution of the bank and the crowd in the square is what city life should be about, rather than about trying to make things frictionless.

To be honest I’m not very familiar with the customs house at night but I do know that it’s never a busy place. However I do live behind the four courts and have noticed that inspite of the population of homeless people in Ireland expanding by 600% there is never homeless people sleeping behind the columns, this is simply because of the Gardai moving the homeless on from here as they may be more embarrased in the bridewell as to their locality than the gardai in store street who are obviously not hypocritical enough to move homeless people on from the customs house! This is why homeless people always slept behind the columns of St Marys church on the quays. This is however not possible anymore as it has been blocked off with crude black gates because of the vandalism you reffered to. So your absolutely right these areas do ruined if unsupervised but it also shows that if the gardai werent so lazy they would be able to herd these unfortunates on like they do at the four courts, and the millenium bridge if theres lots of tourists about! And being familiar with the lovely Brussels that is precisly the reason why you dont see any homeless people about, because they have an active and quite brutal police force, modelled on the french style. Not because there is plenty of short term hostel space for homeless people. So your right, why give the people of Dublin spaces where they can come to terms with a european style good faith society! theyve never been given the oppurtunity so why bother at all. Also the square outside the Bank of Ireland always functioned v. well as far as I have seen in the past, it was one of the only vibrant public areas in the city. i apologise for the bad grammer.

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The Application is to install railings across the Portico of the Four courts. Pity.

Your link LOB sums it up perfectly. This is a disgrace, not only because of the impact on the architecture of the building, but the symbolic and working importance that this entrance has. From victims making statements beneath the great portico, to families and friends gathering in the magnificent demilune space Gandon carved out behind, to citizens declaring victory or defeat in testing the Constitution, this space is often centre-stage in the workings of this building and the Irish judicial system.

The very idea of putting railings across here, let alone sealing off the entrance completely is a criminal offence in itself.
This entrance and this space, with people milling around the great columns is central to how the Four Courts operates. and is almost as iconic as the building itself.
Had Gandon’s plans been properly realised with a projecting temple-like portico it would hold even greater importance.

Far too often our older buildings are being closed off and set in amber for tourists to snap at but not to touch. There is nothing sadder than structures railed up or entrances sealed off, especially a central, dominant entrance like the Four Courts.
This will, as mentioned in the link, become nothing more than dead space stuffed with crisp packets, cans and genrral litter, that regardless of homeless people will have to be regularly cleared out.

I have great admiration for the OPW’s work, as most of us do, but how dare they even consider this.
It shows a blatent disregard for the building and the people who use it.