McDonald appeals latest phase of Hammerson’s Dublin transformation plan

Gordon Deegan

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has lodged a planning appeal against the third phase of Hammerson’s €500 million transformation plan for Dublin City Centre.

The move by the Dublin Central TD to lodge an appeal with An Bord Pleanala follows Stephen Troy of Troy Family Butchers on Moore Street lodging an appeal against the Dublin City Council grant of permission last month to Hammerson, Dublin Central GP Ltd.

In total, the appeals board has now received nine third-party appeals against the latest Hammerson scheme, while the applicants, Hammerson firm, Dublin Central GP Ltd, have lodged a first-party appeal against conditions attached to the permission.

Others to appeal include The 1916 Relatives Moore Street Initiative, Relatives of Signatories of the Proclamation, Moore Street Preservation and the Moore Street Traders, along with a number of individual third-party appeals.

The latest phase of the scheme involves the demolition of buildings and structures on site at Moore Street and Moore Lane to accommodate the construction of a new public plaza along with a mixed use scheme in a six-storey building.

The permission follows two other approvals earlier this year by Dublin City Council relating to other parts of the Dublin Central Project that involve 79 build to rent apartments and hotel, retail, restaurant, cafe as well as cultural uses.

Regeneration

Mrs McDonald and several other third parties have lodged appeals against the other two grants of permission to the appeals board.

In her objection against the third phase, Mrs McDonald claimed that the proposed development "will erase for all time Moore Street’s unique plot grains and courtyards which give this site its historic core differentiating it from other competing locations nationally and internationally".

She further pointed out that “Moore Street, famed for its street market traditions and 1916 Rising connections, is Dublin’s historic core and as such provides the city’s uniqueness in terms of a tourist offering and a sustainable, socially just and economically vibrant regeneration opportunity for the north inner city”.

The Sinn Féin leader claimed that the planning application fails “to protect and preserve this area of unique historical, architectural, social, cultural and economic importance”.

Concerning the latest phase, the Dublin City Council planning report which recommended planning permission said the proposal “would secure the regeneration of a brownfield site in a city centre location for office and café/restaurant space, providing frontage to a new public space”.

The council said the scheme “would ensure a more active frontage to O’Rahilly Parade in keeping with its historic significance”.

The local authority said the proposed development, together with the development proposed on the adjoining site, which is currently the subject of an appeal to An Bord Pleanala, “will complement the development of the adjacent National Monument as a commemorative centre for the 1916 Rising”.

A decision is due on the case in November but due to the current backlog in appeals, it is likely that a decision will not be made until 2023.