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AN IRISH ADULT store is set to open an outlet in Dublin about 50 metres from a national school, and local residents are not impressed.
Playblue, an adult shop based in Kilkenny for the last three years, is to open its first Dublin shop in the leafy northside suburbia of Drumcondra.
St. Patrick’s Boys’ National School is situated roughly 150 feet away on the campus of St. Patrick’s College.
As the unit the shop will take over from was already a retail outlet the passing of the torch to Playblue is completely legal from a planning point of view,.
It is this that local councillor Noel Rock thinks is most problematic.
“While no laws are being broken in relation to this proposed location, residents feel it isn’t ideal to have this kind of retail unit along local school children’s daily route to and from school,” he told TheJournal.ie.
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The Fine Gael councillor, who also lives locally, said that the Kilkenny Playblue store is “not quite comparable” as it is located discreetly up a laneway.
It seems outdated that a shop unit could get permission to be an audio retailer (as is the case here), but then convert to a sex shop without residents being able to voice their concerns. This should be addressed.
The proposed site of the new adult store in Drumcondra Google MapsGoogle Maps
On a national level, this calls into question whether there should be regulations whereby an adult shop is categorised differently to a regular retail store with more stringent regulations.
I think it would be worthwhile for the Minister for the Environment to both publish the findings of the Special Task Force established in 2007 to examine this issue and also to bring about specific regulations governing the location of such shops in the future.
One concerned local resident, who preferred not to be named, told TheJournal.ie that “the likes of these shops should be in designated areas”.
I’m concerned that kids will be passing by every day. There’s a number of establishments like this on (nearby) Dorset Street, but none so close to a school.
Look, it’s happening for sure, but it’s frustrating that there’s nothing anyone can do.
For his part, Richie Cullen (46), the proprietor of Playblue, told TheJournal.ie that the new store is “just another shop”.
We won’t be in people’s faces, the shop will be quite subtle and low key. We’re more upmarket than your average adult store.
Most of our business is done online so the new store will act as more of a warehouse than anything else. You can’t see into the store, it’ll be over-18s only, and no-one else will be allowed in.
When asked why he has chosen to expand in such a residential area, Cullen’s answer was very to the point.
“There’s 80,000 cars up and down that stretch of road every day. That is going to drive traffic to the shop,” he said.
Everyone has a right to an opinion, but I don’t see what the problem is. Where we are in Kilkenny, it’s a smaller town and there’s schools situated all over the place.
So what do you think?
Is the location of this new adult store inappropriate?
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ya the gays are to blame for it just like bad weather cancer and ever thing else that is bad. are you one of those religious nuts from the bible belt in America
Fair play James and Qwerty, I’m glad to see I’m not the only one surprised with the lovely weather we have today what with the gays and the referendum and all that.
The loud & proud Yes voters are worse for entertaining those comments. Ye’re on it like a fly around shite! It’s like there’s ppl just sitting there waiting for someone like ur man above to comment. Just leave it. The result is in. We don’t need to hear the campaign all over again. Grinds my gears!
I’m moving back to Ireland from Holland this summer, and it’s comments like this that make we worry if I’m doing the right thing. Here in Holland, where sex shops, prostitutes etc are all the norm, residential areas and schools are taken into account. How on earth would young kids see inappropriate stuff on TV and the Internet if their parents didn’t let them see it. I’m really disappointed the attitude that ah wee, there’s nothing we can do about it seems to be so prevalent.
“I think these kinds of shops should be in designated areas”. Designated areas = Where she doesn’t have to look at them. These kinds of shops are presumably going to operate age restrictions so it’s not as if some first year can walk in and spend their lunch money on a range of sex toys. Would these people be as vocal if a chipper opened up in the same spot and those school children spent every lunchtime in there eating greasy, fatty food for most of the school year? I doubt it. Snobbery personified.
Hi PlayBlue Here!
We’d love the chance to reassure locals in Drumcondra that the new shop we are opening will be at the very modern high end. Anyone with any dealings with PlayBlue will know we are a million miles removed from the traditional seedy image of adult stores.
Our shop will be totally covered from the outside, with plants outside and the only things visible will be our name PlayBlue over the shop, our logo and the over 18s sign on the door.
We are very strict in only allowing over 18s and err on the side of caution.
We would hope locals wait to see the new shop open before they pass judgement and I’m sure they will be pleasantly surprised.
In Kilkenny hundreds of school kids pass our shop without incident daily.
J there’s worse on Mtv.
These guys are far from seedy and I’m sure they have put a lot of thought into how the shop will look on the outside with the restrictions in place.
If this wasn’t in the media I’m pretty sure this would have gone unnoticed.
J you made me feel so guilty I but myself 50 time with a piece if would with a rust nail and said 5000 hail Marys. …thanks I’m saved from the filth now
They will see more on the top shelf of the local newsagent than in the front of this shop, let alone the universe of adult porn available on their smartphone.
Isn’t there already a hardware shop on the other corner? If they don’t have an issue with the many pubs and fast food joints currently available in the area, then there isn’t a problem with adult shops.
This whole American obsession with sex is ridiculous. Because let’s not kid ourselves, much of our recent moral standards have been heavily influenced by prevailing trends in the US. American moral standards: guns, violence, blood all perfectly fine for children. The idea of two adults having sex, or that sex is even a thing: outrageous, obscene.
Unfortunately kids have access to waves and waves of graphic material on the internet these days. So I’m not sure if it would have too much of an impact on the,.
Lets just ban everything from areas where there are schools. Wouldn’t want kids growing up with any sense of how the real world works.
I don’t have kids, but when I do I expect they will live with me until they are 40 because Im certainly not going to burst any little bubbles of reality for them. Santa presents for a 39 year old might get expensive but it should be worth it to raise a socially inept man/woman-child.
If those people who complain could take their minds out of the bedroom for five minutes they would realise that young children don’t think about sex all day. like they do. half of them won’t even recognise the shop.
Perhaps they are afraid the other half might, god forbid, ask a question regarding the nature of such a shop. It would be terrible to be put on the spot like that, having to come up with an explanation for a basic part of human life.
It’s just a shop that sells adult toys doesn’t matter where it opened people will complain till some else comes along to wrap their fragile little minds
Hiding kids from sexuality isn’t really going to work is it? I mean we have done that for centuries and look at what happens, girls get pregnant at teenage, STDs etc.
Expressing and exploring your sexuality in a safe way is part of being healthy , I don’t get why some people want to shame someone for going into a sex shop etc.
I mean they aren’t going to allow in a 13 year old are they? Presumably its an 18+ establishment
Typical NIMBY mentality from wannabe snobs. counsellor Rock needn’t worry about moral fibre as practically every teen has a smart phone with net access & nearly 80% of Web content is sex related. More nit picking by people with nothing to do. sure a good orgasm would probably kill them.
In The Netherlands you can buy nude magazines in the supermarkets, next to the gossip and pc magazine. I’m not talking Zoo, I’m talking real porn, get a grip, nothing will happen.
Oh FFS!
Are the same folks not concerned about the sex shops on Capel St being located next door to buildings where lots of young Asian children live? Of course not.
Grow up Ireland.
The normalising of the realities of human sexuality from a young age is a good thing.
it’s just a shop that sells sex stuff. ….what’s the problem? …..they won’t be forcing kids to become customers. ….the kids probably know more about sex than most adults anyway
Oh come on!!!! They are hardly going to be luring the kids in at the school gates are they. Lighten up everyone…. Look at it that it’s a good sign of the economy, a new business opening!!!
I dunno, I heard one of the people working there is gonna stand outside the school gates with a big net dressed as the child catcher from chitty chitty bang bang….purple monkey dishwasher
Amazing how different the reactions were when it’s a mcdonalds that tries to set up anywhere near a school! Sex shop is ok but McDonalds is a big no no to journal commies.
That’s because a sex shop is highly unlikely to serve their young kids, while fast food outlets, on the other hand, will often put on “school lunch specials” or Happy Meals aimed directly at them.
Maybe it is, Js, but sex shops are one of the few places that don’t play any hand, act or part in that sexualisation, as they are strictly adults only.
Anyone who knows this area can tell this poor misguided man that there may be a lot of traffic but there is f**k all parking in this area. No way is his thinking clever.
Hi JuicyCherries HERE.
Each of us likes sex, so let’s stop pretend that we do not like to do. Access to pornography today is so very easy that we should not hide it.
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