The damage from the fire is still being assessed and the Luas service from Connolly Station to The Point is suspended for seven days until the structural integrity of the bridge can be confirmed.
Office workers, tourists and pedestrians now have to detour around the Dock to gain access to the area.
Indferno at Georges Dock
Fire brigades battle blaze in Dublin’s IFSC
At the Harbourmaster Bar and Restaurant, which had to be evacuated when the fire broke out beside the premises, general manager Rory Killeen was busy trying to reopen for business today having been closed all day yesterday. And it was proving to be an uphill battle.
“The phones and internet are down, we can’t get gas into the kitchens, and the toilets are blocked,” he said.
“There were around 40 or 50 people here when the fire happened under the bridge beside us, and they all had to leave, and we could not open yesterday.
“Then we managed to get a gas supply to the door but for some reason we have yet to work out, we can’t get gas pressure in the kitchens,” he explained.
“We are working on a reduced and revised menu today after I hired-in some fryers with a bottled gas supply, but I’ll have to get a gas technician in. And we still have no phones or internet access which is hitting us hard because the vast majority of our bookings are done by phone or online.
“The power went during the fire, and that knocked out the pumps from the toilet, and we’ve had to get the system pumped-out before we can try and get our pumps going again,” Mr Killeen added.
Veronica DeLuca outside UpShoots cafe
At Gilna Opticians on Custom House Square manager Kathy Ryan said their phone and internet were still down.
Customers of Eir have been impacted by damage to the infrastructure under the bridge.
“When people phone us they hear a message saying we are disconnected. Our internet is down also and I’ve been using my phone to create a hotspot to try to get around that problem, but clients still cannot phone us and email is a problem,” Ms Ryan told the Irish Independent.
“Eir told us we should have service restored last night but as of this morning we still have nothing.
“It is a major inconvenience. We are heavily reliant on phone and internet. Clients can’t ring us to see if their glasses are ready. We are open for business, but one person who we got back to yesterday evening said he went to a different optician service because he thought we were closed,” she added.
In a statement issued yesterday Eir said that following the fire at George’s Dock in Dublin’s Docklands on Tuesday night telecommunications ducting infrastructure in the area has sustained damage, which in turn has impacted some local business and residential services.
“Eir teams have assessed the current impact and are working on rerouting services, where feasible. Eir teams are ready to access the site and begin restoration work as soon as it is declared safe and access is granted by emergency services,” it added.
Billy Walsh outside Seven Wonders cafe
In Seven Wonders cafe in the GHQ building Billy Walsh said they still did not have their own phone line or internet, but the building’s management had helped by installing a line through a neighbouring business.
“We don’t have our own phone line still, and initially we thought we had no gas but that was because of an automatic shut-off from the time of the fire and we got that sorted quickly,” he said.
“When we came in yesterday the internet was down so we missed online orders from 7.30am until around 11.30am. We are managing and it is an inconvenience, but I thought it would be worse,” Mr Walsh added.
In nearby UpShoots cafe Veronica DeLuca said their business has been affected by the fact that an ordering kiosk outside the cafe is not functioning because of the internet outage.
“We have got around the internet orders coming in from outside by using a phone to create a hotspot, but it’s a different system for the kiosk. Customers use it to order and wait for their number to be called and then come in and collect their food. A lot of people use it and if it’s not working they are walking away,” she explained.
Road closed
Outside the popular cafe the screen was blank.
Other businesses said they had been affected temporarily by power outages at the time of the fire, but that came back quickly.
“We had trouble getting our checkouts working yesterday morning between 6.30am and 10am, but that is sorted out now,” said Leo Cunha in the Spar shop.