THE IVEAGH MARKETS in Dublin 8 are “unsafe and in an advanced state of dereliction” due to “serious neglect and several damaging interventions”, a Dublin City Council report has found. 

The detailed report, commissioned for DCC by Howley Hayes Architects, has advised that more than €13 million is needed to carry out “essential structural repairs” on the historic redbrick structure on Francis Street. 

Temple Bar businessman Martin Keane was granted planning permission for its redevelopment in 2007 after agreeing a long-term leasehold agreement with the council in 1997. The planning permission lapsed in 2017. 

The Local Area Plan (LAP) for the Liberties, adopted by the council in May 2009 (and extended in 2014 until May 2020), states that the Iveagh Markets “with its distinctive character … will become a destination shopping district when it opens”. 

In 2017, local councillors voted to take over ownership of the markets, located in the Liberties and built by the Iveagh Trust in 1890, after years of stalled redevelopment. At the time, Keane said he would “go to war” over the building. 

Labour Rebecca Moynihan told TheJournal.ie that the building should be a thriving marketplace.

“We’ve already lost the Flea Market in Newmarket Square. We need a market area on the southside of Dublin. I really think there should be safe investment now in the market.”

The council recently closed Dublin’s other historic market off Capel Street ahead of its redevelopment. 

Iveagh Markets on Francis Street Sam Boal Sam Boal

The Howley Hayes report notes that the building “has fallen into decay and many of the most recent interventions have been unsuccessful and at times damaging.

“The Iveagh Markets is one of the most significant buildings ever constructed in Dublin and a central part of the Guinness Legacy that has enriched the lives of Dubliners and visitors alike.

It is of the highest level of urgency that the future of this important building is secured.

Although the Iveagh Markets are “very badly damaged and will no doubt cost a significant sum to restore,” the report notes “it is hard to think of any other building in Dublin that merits such attention, or which has the potential to be one of the city’s more attractive landmark buildings.”