A vacant church just off Grafton Street will host a new food hall, Fáilte Ireland has announced. 

The proposal has been signed off by Dublin City Council and will see St Andrew’s Church transformed. 

The area by the church is already a hotspot for tourists, who come to see the Molly Malone statue and listen to the buskers beside her. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, food journalist and Scoop Food magazine editor Dee Laffan described it as a “fantastic venue”. 

She recalled that she had previously visited it when it was a tourist office. 

“It was a gorgeous space and I always thought, ‘This could be so much more,’” she said. 

The Molly Malone statue by St Andrew's Church. Picture by: Alamy.com.

There were rumours of interest in a new food hall a number of years ago; however, COVID put the brakes on it. 

“It’s so centrally located, all around there, Trinity Street, Suffolk Street are all kind of pedestrianised,” Ms Laffan said. 

“A nice area and, obviously, a very touristy area as well.” 

As yet, the details of the project have yet been made clear. 

“They’ve just given the go ahead for a ‘food hall’, they’ve called it,” Ms Laffan added.  

“It says it’s going to hopefully employ 30 to 40 full time people, which is always a plus.” 

St Andrew's Street in Dublin city centre. Image: Google

Ms Laffan continued that the new venue will face stiff competition. 

“One thing that concerns me is that the Temple Bar Food Market has been running for a long time - and is still running every Saturday,” she said. 

“That has suffered since COVID, it was quite lively beforehand and people don’t support it enough. 

“I know it has lost a good few traders over the years.” 

Food tourism is worth an estimated €2 billion to the Irish economy. 

Main image: St Andrew's Church. Picture by: Alamy.com.