By Caitriona Murphy
A gate from Trinity Hall to Temple Road has been closed by College between the hours of 9:30pm and 6:00am, following a complaint made by a resident of the area.
The resident wrote a letter at the end of September to Gardaí and sent a copy to the Provost, complaining of excessive noise and disruption between 10pm and midnight. College responded last week by closing the gate for the entire night, cutting off access to the Luas from that area of Halls.
Commenting on the issue, the Communications Office stated that College “takes its responsibility to its neighbours very seriously” and “took the initiative to discuss the issues raised by the Temple Road resident with the Gardaí as part of its ongoing relationship with the Community Gardaí in the area.” The gate is now closed on a “pilot” basis until it can be assessed whether this lowers the noise.Trinity News did not receive a response from the Communications Office to its question about whether any student representatives had been consulted before this decision was made.
Students were informed of the situation through an email sent out by Warden Brendan Tangney.
Plunkett McCullagh, President of the Halls JCR, stated that “it is a poor solution to the problem”. He said that while the JCR is aware that there is noise, it is caused by “a small number of individuals”.
He said that the closure of the gate has proven to be a huge inconvenience and may be dangerous. “In quite a few cases residents have risked injury while trying to climb over the gate. We have advised residents against trying to climb over the gate, but the danger remains there while the gate is locked”.
He stressed that College should find an alternative solution to the issue.
