Dublin City Council (DCC) is supporting plans to knock down the former home of a 1916 leader to replace it with an aparthotel complex.
An Bord Pleanála is currently considering an application for 105 apartments at the site at Herbert Park in Ballsbridge, as part of a 12-storey flat and aparthotel complex according to the Irish Times.
The development put forward by Derryroe Ltd. - a development company owned by the McSharry and Kennedy families who also own the Herbert Park Hotel - would involve demolishing “The O’Rahilly house” on the site of three detached Edwardian houses, two of which have already been torn down.
The remaining house, 40 Herbert Park, was the home of Michael Joseph O’Rahilly, the only leader of the 1916 Rising to die in battle.
We have decades of regret, of bad planning decisions that have been made in the past.
DCC has now advised the planning board to grant permission for the development, despite a number of heritage groups and local resident associations opposing the plans, along with some city councillors and the Department of Culture and Heritage.
An Taisce's Ian Lumley said demolishing the home of one of the leaders of the Easter Rising would remove a piece of the city's heritage: “We have decades of regret, of bad planning decisions that have been made in the past.
“We hope that An Bord Pleanála will take the national interest, and reflect the range of submissions that have come from the O’Rahilly family, from organisations concerned about Irish history and heritage, and the legitimate concerns of local residents.”
Mr Lumley said he was surprised by the Council’s recommendation: “We would expect that Dublin City Council would be advocates and custodians of Dublin city’s heritage, both historically and architecturally. This is being portrayed as some sort of response to the housing crisis.”
An Bord Pleanála is expected to deliver its decision next month.
