Preparations are underway to cater for outdoor hospitality in Dublin city centre with the use of public space for seating.
As part of the arrangements, a new traffic system is being tried around Merrion Row to allow for a 75% reduction in vehicles.
The street is being reduced to one lane of traffic with local bars and restaurants hoping to have space for outdoor seating in place by 7 June if the trial is successful.
This weekend, Merrion Row will take outbound traffic from Kildare Street only, while traffic flow on Hume Street and Ely Place will be reversed to take traffic from St Stephen's Green East.
Hume Street and Ely Place may be increased to two lanes in the opposite direction with some parking removed, depending on how the traffic trial goes.
The arrangement will be in place until Sunday night and, if successful, will return for a longer period in the summer.
Joe Barrett of Bang Restaurant said people are now "weatherised" and used to outdoor socialising. He believed the 75% reduction in traffic will help, with barriers placed between the tables and the street.
Eventually, he said local hospitality businesses hope that the street linking St Stephen's Green and Merrion Square will be completely pedestrianised.
Dublin City Council said that under the Bus Connects programme, there will be hardly any need for buses to use the street by 2024 so this may be possible.
Other parts of the city such as Drury Street are seeing 'build-outs' for outdoor dining while there other streets like Dame Court being pedestrianised or partly pedestrianised, like Capel Street.
However, some retailers fear that new outdoor dining arrangements will just lead to more rowdiness.
Mary Whelan, owner of Eirlooms gift shop and member of the 'Dublin Can Be Heaven' business group, said there are people all over the city who are badly affected by the new outdoor socialising.
Preparations are underway to create more outside dining space in parts of Dublin city centre. As part of the arrangements, a new traffic system is being trialled around Merrion Row to allow for a 75% reduction in vehicles. pic.twitter.com/eOJAP8TVfC
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 15, 2021
She said some residents "cannot cope with the noise and are afraid to leave their homes".
She told RTÉ it was as if Dublin was only being made accessible for one category of people instead of being open to all.
However, Coilín O'Reilly, head of the city council's Recovery Taskforce, said the changes are about making the city centre a more attractive place to visit.
He said it was all about "animating the public space" and there will be more public art when HSE guildelines allow small public events to take place.
