Cork City Council said while it broadly supported public realm initiatives, it also had “a statutory responsibility to take appropriate action where unauthorised activity is occurring”. 

Representatives from The Fifth Quarter declined to comment on whether the food court was operating outside planning regulations.

“Our focus now is firmly on the future and on developing new initiatives, events and activation opportunities that will continue to support local businesses, entrepreneurs and the city centre,” The Fifth Quarter said.

Locals paid tribute to the plaza as a popular community third space, and said the development provided a much-needed facelift for an area that occasionally courted antisocial behaviour.

“There was nothing to do over here. You just walk by, you get your groceries, you go home,” said Adeel Ahmed, who has been living in Cork City for the past year.

“When you think of a city centre, you think of what this community has become now… they have a community place to sit for everyone, just chat, chill, relax, and that's what this place became in the past nine months, and I think now that they're taking it away, it's a big loss.

It was just so nice to be able to come by, get a snack, sit here, especially when the sun's out… I can't think of another place in the city centre, aside from pubs or bars.

Food vendors were left flatfooted by the news. Monserrat Lopez, who works at Little Vietnam, said she heard about the plaza’s closure less than two weeks ago. 

"It's really sad, because I think it's a wonderful place, not even for the food trucks, but for the people to come by and enjoy the city centre. I don't think we have a lot of spaces like this," she said.

“I heard a lot of people saying that they love this place,” said Gustavo Martinis, who works at Truffle Dog.

“We change the space for the better, and then everyone, every time, just comes here and says, ‘Thank you so much, thanks for transforming this place, thanks for what you guys did'."

Cairo2Cork was Nivene Sadick’s first venture in the food business. 

“We started on October 18 last year. The support we've had from the first day has been absolutely phenomenal.

“It's a different place now, and it's so vibrant. We're hopeful that this area will still stay as vibrant as ever; we'll still be trading… we're just going to have to come up with a plan B.

We’re sad, we're going to miss all of our local customers here and all the businesses around us.

Mary Horgan was lining up outside of Cairo2Cork when she heard the news the food truck would be leaving the plaza. She's shocked.

“I’m very disappointed, because it cleaned up this area and I found the food beautiful,” she said.

“The area was safe, and it wasn’t safe before. I saw this place in the good times, and I saw it when it went really bad.”

Others rued that no compromise could be reached between Holren Properties and the City Council.

“Surely they could find a way, without it, it's quite a dead space. It was kind of people malingering, and nothing is happening. It brings a lot of life to the place,” said Tony Carey.

“Paul Street is usually quite empty, and it's one of the few locations where you can actually meet outside, eat, and try some different stuff,” said Krystian Bialek.