Fair play to the good burghers of Phibsborough who have stemmed – or at least temporarily delayed – the tide of progress in the interest of aesthetics. A local protest was mounted before Christmas to the erection of a solid concrete wall at the new Luas stop at Broadstone, which would block the view of the historic Broadstone Depot building. More than 1,500 people signed a petition in advance of a protest meeting in November organised by local group Phizzfest – the Phibsboro Community Arts festival.

Builders of the Luas Cross City project had installed the wall across the front facade of the station, but responded positively once objections were raised, sending along one of their members to the public demonstration to collect the petition. Phibsborough resident and spokesperson for the group Ciara Considine told Dublin People they were told within days of the protest that Luas Cross City was "going back to the drawing board on the wall and redesigning it based on previous designs".

Weight was added to the protest by chairman of Dublin City Council's Transport Committee Ciarán Cuffe and artist Robert Ballagh – both local residents – as well as Ian Lumley, heritage officer with An Taisce.

Broadstone station was designed by John Skipton Mulvany for the Midland Great Western Railway company and built during the Great Famine. The station closed to trains in 1937 and since then has been used as a bus station, and latterly as offices for Bus Éireann managers.