PEOPLE HAVE REACTED angrily online and a number of politicians have come out against the installation of a bike rack outside the popular LGBTQ bar Street 66 on Parliament Street in Dublin. 

What was a loading bay that also served as an outdoor seating area at the front of the premises was found to have been taken over by the bike rack when staff arrived at the bar yesterday. 

The bar had applied for a street furniture license but was denied. 

This is currently happening on Parliament street. Where we received a message with no reason why permit was refused and clearly this had being planned for weeks . What is going on @DubCityCouncil pic.twitter.com/ZRG1IWdQtT

— Street 66 Dublin (@st66dublin) June 12, 2023

After a video was posted on Street 66′s Twitter account showing the new feature and complaining that the street already had plenty of bike parking spaces, but very little room for deliveries, a petition was started to have the rack removed by DCC. 

Siobhán Conmy, who owns and manages Street 66, spoke to The Journal about her reaction to the appearance of the bike rack and how the bar’s outdoor furniture license was denied only a few days beforehand. 

She had been attempting to renew the license for weeks, she said. 

“I’ve been contacting them (DCC) for the last couple of weeks to get an update on what the story was with it because about 12 weeks ago they removed the furniture and barriers from outside and said that we didn’t have a license that I had been applying for.

“So every day last week I’ve been in contact with the council but no word yet. And then on Friday evening, at a quarter to six, I received an email saying that the outdoor furniture license was refused and that I was to receive a letter.

“I haven’t received a letter, I haven’t received any explanation why or if there’s any reason or objections or whatever. So I was a little bit disheartened over the weekend about that. 

“I was hoping to receive some kind of feedback on why we were refused and even a reference number so that I could appeal it, because you’re given 30 days to appeal a refusal.

She then found out yesterday morning from a photo taken by a customer that the Council was installing the rack.

“If they had refused my license and decided to turn it back into a loading bay again for deliveries and stuff, you know, that’s life. But they’ve actually turned it into a bike rack when there’s 26 bike racks already on Parliament street,” she said.

“It’s just really upsetting and disturbing that this happened and I haven’t been contacted by anybody. No one told me this was going to happen.

“And it seems to be a bit weird because it happened less than a working day between my refusal at as quarter to six (on Friday) and first thing at nine o’clock on Monday morning, so I’m not sure what the thought process was there.

Poor lighting on the street makes the rack more of a safety concern, she said. 

“It’s a trip hazard,” she said. “At nighttime it’s pitch dark at night unless our lights are on and some of the other businesses’ lights are on because the street lighting is not very good.”

It’s also particularly inconvenient for one of the city’s most popular LGBTQ bars during Pride month. 

“We’ve had a very good, lovely atmosphere for the last couple of weeks, you know, just kind of a build up and on the 24th is going to be crazy, there’ll be thousands of people on the street,” she said.

Social Democrat TD Gary Gannon tweeted in support of the bar and calling the decision by DCC “frustratingly antagonistic…Roll on a time when the executive of DCC can be held accountable.” 

This is frustratingly antagonistic from DCC. Councillor @CllrCat is going to follow up with management, as indeed will my office but how this was permitted in the first instance requires an explanation. Roll on a time when the executive of DCC can be held accountable. https://t.co/EwcTQr5e2T

— Gary Gannon TD (@GaryGannonTD) June 12, 2023

Also on Twitter, some well-known figures in the LGBTQ nightlife scene weighed in and questioned the circumstances around the installation. Among them were Buzz O’Neil-Maxwell and Panty Bliss.

The bar received an after office hours email on Friday, and @DubCityCouncil staff were ready to fit it this morning? When have council staff ever worked this promptly. Something doesn’t add up here. @LordMayorDublin @CByrneGreen https://t.co/BRYcHQTuni

— Buzz O'Neill-Maxwell (@buzzoneill) June 12, 2023

 ”None of this adds up,” wrote Panty Bliss.

The situation was also brought up by Green Party councillor Claire Byrne during a DCC meeting last night. 

“I love bike racks but dropping them in the loading bay is pure madness. There is no joined up thinking here. The businesses & the city deserve better,” she wrote in a tweet accompanying a video poster on Twitter.

“There doesn’t seem to be any coherent plan when it comes to granting street furniture licenses,” she told the meeting. 

Councillor Hazel Chu of the Green Party spoke to The Journal and said she would be looking into how this decision came about. She also said that she had been told that the racks are not permanent.

“So I’m going to look into that and find out because the cycle racks themselves, they’re not permanent because I checked that out with transport and they said they’re not permanent racks. So I’m going to see why they were refused the license and see what we can do.”

Chu believes businesses on parliament street should be allowed to provide outdoor seating, especially to help business during the summer months and that the decision by DCC management  to deny Street 66 permission was perplexing. 

“How the management work these things is a mystery sometimes, but we are going to be challenging and ask the why and asking for the reasons why they have refused this application.”

She also understands why there was such a negative reaction from people online.

“Am I surprised by people’s reactions, being so annoyed? No, I’m not surprised by that at all,” she said.

- with additional reporting from Diarmuid Pepper