Get all the very latest news in Dublin straight to your email every single day Sign Up! Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Up to 5,000 jobs in Dublin city centre could be lost if a pedestrianised plaza at College Green goes ahead, it has been claimed.

The Dublin City Centre Traders Alliance (DCCTA), which represents businesses including Arnotts. Brown Thomas and the Jervis Shopping Centre, made the claim at a Bord Pleanala hearing into the plans today.

According to RTE, town planner Tom Phillips spoke on behalf of the DCCTA to argue that banning traffic from the area would be "like cutting off a vital artery" and said the plan is a "snip too far."

He quoted figures from business group DublinTown that said city centre footfall is down 30% on levels in 2007, and said the plaza would limit access for more shoppers and divide the city like the Berlin Wall.

Mr Phillips also claimed that a traffic ban in College Green could cost 5,000 jobs, and said that a civic space that would remove the public for 364 days for one day's closure was unnecessary.

He pointed to Smithfield Square as being a space built at the cost of €3.5 million, only to become a "forgotten space", and claimed the plaza would create a medium risk of a terrorist attack.

The five-day hearing continues tomorrow.