Art project's guests check in on 15th floor

Crisp, white linen on the beds, tasteful daffodil and twig arrangements on the tables and spectacular views across the Wicklow mountains, the Poolbeg towers and Howth Head.

Throw in the interesting odour in the ground floor stairwell, an explosion of graffiti on the walls, and you've got all the ingredients for the most talked-about new lodgings in the country. Welcome to the Hotel Ballymun.

Launched by Minister of State Noel Ahern, Ballymun Regeneration Scheme's latest art project opened its doors yesterday morning. Nine rooms - seven doubles and two singles - are now open to the public on the 15th floor of Clarke Tower, one of the last of the seven iconic Ballymun towers still standing.

One of Hotel Ballymun's four chamber maids, Jane Thompson, was busy preparing rooms for guests, including local TD Pat Carey, who is booked in tomorrow night. It was a case of deja vu for Jane, who lived in one of the flats used to create the hotel.

"When I heard they were making a hotel in Clarke Tower I thought they were joking," she said, standing in what was her bedroom for 11 years.

"I always loved Ballymun and I always loved this flat but the problems started when you went outside," she said. "I think the hotel is a crazy idea but it's great that people want to come and stay in Ballymun."

Anyone expecting plasma screens, room service or even a mini-bar should head over to the Ballymun Plaza hotel across the road. Still, the lift works - there is even piped elevator music - the rooms are big and airy and there's a unique style and beauty that you would be hard-pressed to find in the likes of the Shelbourne Hotel.

All furnishings are works of art made from materials found in the now empty flats throughout the tower. Freelance designer Jonathan Legge and his team of locals fashioned bedside lockers from tennis rackets, chairs from books and beds from chairs. There is a room filled with plants, another that contains a solitary disco ball and yet another stuffed with rubble as a reminder of what will eventually become of this tower.

The hotel, an alcohol-free zone, was the idea of Kilkenny-born eco-artist Seamus Nolan, who said yesterday he was pleased with the finished product. "The towers are such a strong part of Ballymun's aesthetic and they are being demolished, which is a shame. Working here with the community I had come to really like the place and the people. I wanted to show it in a different context," he said.

Aisling Prior of Breaking Ground, the art initiative behind Hotel Ballymun, said she has been amazed by the response to the project, which will last for four weeks.

"The rooms are now completely booked out and we have a very substantial waiting list. We could fill the hotel for another month," she said. Guests can stay for one night only and pay a €30 fully refundable deposit. "People have booked from all over the country and from Dublin there has been interest from people everywhere from Foxrock to Finglas to Ballymun itself."

The public can still gain access to the hotel at 2pm-5pm each day and there will be musical performances and other events each evening in the intimate conference centre.

[ www.hotelballymun.com ]