By the time the owner of the former Ardee House pub in Dublin’s Liberties found out a group called the Revolutionary Housing League had entered his building, the pub already had a new name: Anne Devlin Community Centre.

Squatting, if that’s what you want to call it, has become rarer in Dublin. During the recession there were several squats across the city that provided housing, as well as a rich cultural offering that enlivened creative subcultures in the capital – Squat City in Grangegorman and the Barricade Inn on Parnell Street being notable examples. In a direct response to homelessness, there was also the Bolt Hostel on Bolton Street and Apollo House. More recently, such actions have been sporadic and often abruptly ended with those taking part evicted.

But Ardee House in the Liberties is an interesting case, not least because those involved, whom the High Court restrained from continuing their alleged trespass of the building last Wednesday, made their intentions of opening a community centre immediately explicit. They did not do so quietly. Making a point chimes with the Liberties’ context, and especially this specific area – Newmarket Square and its surroundings – which in recent years has seen an astonishing wave of development. Most of that development is expensive build-to-rent apartments, student accommodation and hotels.

Concurrent with this action is a wave of local activism, separate but connected. A protest demanding an end to hotel development in Dublin 8 organised by the Bridgefoot Street........

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