In the heart of Dublin, a new collective has occupied an old building, previously known as Neary’s hotel, to create a new radical, autonomous social centre and infoshop for our city. A few hundred metres down the road from the Garden of Remembrance — a place many of us know as the starting point for marches and demos protesting the injustices and manifestations of oppression and repression perpetuated by the state and the capitalist, white supremacist, patriarchal system that rules over us — we are reclaiming our city and reclaiming power and control over our own lives.

With this space, we hope to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, radical debate and an introduction to anarchist critique of our society. We will strive to provide a safe(r) space free from sexism, racism, classism, hetero-normativity and other systems of oppression. We want to create and foster our own culture, one that values and encompasses a diversity of cultures while rejecting the imposed dominant one, and that is based on freedom, mutual aid, voluntary association and respect.

Squatting is a political tactic that we have chosen deliberately to challenge the notion of private property. Through squatting this space, one that has been empty for over ten years, and through hosting regular events like Practical Squatters’ Nights, we strive to empower people to reclaim the city from wealthy property owners. Left unattended and uncared for, empty buildings will fall into disrepair and eventually rot. We refuse to pay just to exist while these owners profit from what could be a hub of resistance. We choose to put our principles into practice. This project will transform an otherwise wasted space from a dormant building into a place that can be utilised by social groups, campaigns and individual community members for meetings, talks, workshops, and other political, social and creative endeavours.

The Barricade Inn’s current space is at 77–78 Parnell Street, Dublin 1. This is right in the city centre. The building is a squatted former hotel called Neary’s. To its is the Londis at the corner of Parnell Street and O’Connell Street, and to its right is Fibber Magees pub.