A GROUP OF businesses in Dublin’s Temple Bar have said they will be examining a proposal to open a giant McDonald’s outlet in the area.

The fast-food giant has applied for permission to install a three-storey McDonald’s franchise on Temple Bar Square, replacing Frankie’s Steakhouse & Bar – the restaurant run by jockey Frankie Dettori and chef Marco Pierre White. The company states in its application that an outlet in the heart of Dublin’s so-called Cultural Quarter would generate traffic and “add to the vitality of the area”, the Sunday Times reported yesterday (subscription).

Martin Harte, managing director of Temple Bar Traders – whose mission statement is “to promote the arts tourism, trade and commerce in the Temple Bar area” – told TheJournal.ie his group will be scrutinising the application. “We’d have have a look at it, to see what exactly what they’re proposing to do and how,” he said. “We have a policy and we will be looking at all the information in the application.”

However, a spokesman for the Temple Bar Cultural Trust told the Sunday Times: “There is no room for McDonald’s, full stop.” He added the franchise would be “an undesirable development for the area” and “something we would abhor”. McDonald’s is reported to have hired a design agency for the proposed outlet, which it says will create 60 jobs, and plans to decorate it with images of “street art” and “grunge”.

A spokesperson for Dublin City Council said they do not comment on open planning applications. McDonald’s runs more than 30,000 restaurants around the world, including 77 in Ireland which serve an average of 150,000 customers a day.