Ireland’s first highly-anticipated cat lounge opened its doors in Dublin earlier this month. Cara Croke and Megan Walsh paid a visit to speak to the woman behind it all. 

Located in Smithfield Square, The Cat Lounge welcomed its first visitors on the 10th of October and has received a great response since.

Owner and cat-lover Georgina O’Neill was inspired to open the lounge when she was shown photographs of a cat café in Japan back in 2014.

“I’d first heard about cat cafés when my brother visited one in Japan. I knew Ireland needed one and ever since then I planned to open my own here in Dublin,” said Georgina.

Georgina explained she wanted the lounge to be a great place for those who can’t have pets at home due to living in an apartment or living with someone who has allergies.

The lounge allows animal lovers to spend 90 minutes at a time with the kittens with a tea or coffee from their hot drinks machine. 

So far, The Cat Lounge is home to eleven kittens from two litters. 

“Six of the kittens are black and the rest a mix of tabby, white, and black and white. They were rescued from the local vet after they had been handed in to be euthanised.”

Two of the eleven kittens have been named so far, with plans to name the rest through the help of social media. Georgina has hopes that some of the kittens will be adopted once they are six months old, however she has her concerns that the black litter will be harder to re-home.

“The black cats find it harder to be re-homed because people can be so superstitious. People want interesting looking cats and for some reason they think black isn’t. I’m hoping the lounge will give potential owners an opportunity to come in and fall in love with the cat’s personalities.”

For now, the kittens all live together in The Cat Lounge and are doted on daily by Georgina, her three staff, and cat-loving members of the public.

Georgina says in the two weeks since opening, the response to the lounge has been fantastic, however, with mornings being the quietest time for visitors, they have plans to host events for charities during this time in the future.

You can book your slot with the kittens at www.catlounge.ie for €15 per person.

By Cara Croke and Megan Walsh.