Liberty news

Corpo in dark over lane closure

Mill Lane has been illegally sealed off for three months. Paul Ferris investigates

The lane leading to one of the oldest houses in the Liberties is to be reopened after confusion over why it was closed. The Liberty has learned that the lane will be opened again in the coming weeks.

Mill Lane joins New Market to Mill Street and leads to Hugano House. It has been sealed off since September when a temporary closing order was granted by Dublin Corporation.

The Lane was due to be reopened at the end of November, but this never happened. A Dublin Corporation official said, "we didn’t know anything about the lane still being closed".

The closure of the lane was mentioned during the March meeting of Dublin City Council by local Green Councillor Ciarán Cuffe. A decision on the reopening of the lane was postponed until next month. However, inquires by the Liberty revealed that the lane has in fact been closed illegally for the previous three months.

Siobhán Brazil of Dublin Corporation told the Liberty that an engineer had visited the lane and that it will now be opened as soon as possible.

Cllr Cuffe said he was delighted that the lane was to be reopened. "I think a decision to close off a road permanently should not be taken lightly. I mean the streets and lanes are the public part of the city, and if you lose particular streets like that, I think you lose a lot of the character of the city."

He believes that Mill Lane gives a beautiful view looking down at Hugano House. He feels that this is another important reason to keep the lane open. "If you lose the lane, you lose the view from New Market of Hugano House."

Hugano House is more than 350 years old. It is owned by Board Telecom and has fallen into disrepair over the past few years. Ciarán Cuffe has written to the Minister trying to get a commitment to restore the house. He says that "it’s appalling to allow an important building owned by a state company to fall down".