The Gas Café, the main cafe and food shop for students inside Trinity’s D’Olier Street building has been closed down, The University Times has learned.
Midwifery and nursing students, for whom most classes are based in the complex on 24 D’Olier Street, arrived on their first week back to find an empty space where the cafe used to be. The cafe was the only on-building option of convenience to students who use the school.
Speaking to The University Times, Tara McCormack, a nursing student who is also Disability Officer of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU), expressed strong dismay at the decision to dismantle the cafe facility. “The reason I was given for the cafe’s closure was that there was not much business happening there, which can be fair during the summer when there are no students on the D’Olier Street Campus,” said McCormack, “but now the nursing students here have no on-site café or anything really. Our only option is to go to Insomnia next-door where prices are higher, where coffee is €2.70 and tea is around €2.20.”
McCormack added that the alternative of using student cafes on the main campus was too time-consuming for students needing to return to class after short breaks.
No warning was given to students that the café would be removed,
McCormack raised the issue with TCDSU President Lynn Ruane, who also expressed disappointment in the college’s decision. “She knows how unfair this is”, says McCormack, “so we, along with faculty convenors, will be looking into the issue and hopefully we will find a solution to the problem”.
Moira O’Brien of the College Catering Department told The University Times in an email statement that the cafe closed for the final time in May, as it had normally done so in previous years before the summer.
The cafe was operated by an independent catering company, contracted by the College catering service.
The manager of the D’Olier Street building did not respond with a request for comment by the time of publication.
