Myra (89) battles to banish Costa Coffee lighting signs
By Mary Dennehy
JUST one year shy of 90, Myra Sharkey is on a mission to stop planning permission being granted for the retention of a metre-tall lighted sign hanging on the side of the new Costa Coffee shop on Main Road, Tallaght – a sign which illuminates Myra’s home when switched on.
Living in Tallaght for 60 years and in her Main Road home for 42 years, Myra is objecting to a planning application submitted by Costa Coffee for the retention of two white ‘Costa’ signs, which are suspended on two of the coffee shop’s external walls.
One of the signs faces out onto Main Road and is located opposite Myra’s home – with the light posing a ‘serious invasion of privacy’ particularly during the darker morning and evening hours.
Speaking with The Echo this week, Myra said: “This morning the light was switched on at 7am and it lit my bedroom up.
“I have blinds and curtains and the light still managed to get through.
“Every day the lights and the neon lights from Costa glare into my home and people sitting along the window having a coffee can see straight into my home.
“The whole lighting scenario is a major interruption. The normal privacy one expects is gone.”
Myra, who is widowed, added: “I know I am wasting my time raising this, but at least I can get it off my chest.
“The council has made some bad decisions in Tallaght village, and Main Road is no longer seen as a residential area.
“Costa Coffee and its neon signs are just over 46 metres from my home and while I understand that development has to happen, there must be a better way of doing it and another signage option for Costa coffee that does not impact on my life so much.
“My memory [of Tallaght] is of a beautiful village with laced curtains on the windows.
“Of course it couldn’t last, but there is a way of doing things.”
Myra is lodging a submission with South Dublin County Council in objection to the retention of signage, with county planners due to make a decision by November 20.
The application submitted by Costa Coffee also seeks the retention of two red roundels with white Costa lettering, red vinyl cladding to window reveal and surround and Costa branded wall graphics on the east elevation.
