Listed Wicklow Street shopfront was torn down

Dublin Corporation has initiated enforcement proceedings against a jewellery retailer after the shop front of a listed building in the heart of Dublin's shopping district was removed without planning permission.

DTRM, a jewellery company based at the Western Parkway Business Park in Dublin, has apparently stopped work on converting the well known "Our Boys" shop in Wicklow Street following the intervention of the corporation. The shopfront was listed for preservation in list 2 of the city's development plan adopted last March. It was one of the longest surviving shop fronts in a street which has changed greatly over the past two decades. The shop front comprised a mainly glass door set into two wood panelled bay windows.

A planning inspector from Dublin Corporation visited the site on the afternoon of Friday, November 5th, and served workers there with an enforcement notice under the 1976 Planning Act. As well as drawing attention to the fact that the owners and contractors were carrying out an unauthorised development, another notice informed them that they may be liable to criminal prosecution.

The penalty for a conviction on indictment in the Circuit Court can involve a fine of up to £1 million or two years imprisonment. A similar notice was subsequently served on DTRM.

It is understood that DTRM showed its plans for the shop to the owner - a private investor - but did not have written permission to proceed with the work.

Michael Smith, chairman of An Taisce, said that the demolition work "highlights the failure of local authorities to get to grips with the enforcement problem (of planning laws)". Christy Geoghan, head of the corporation's planning department, said "we really are dependent on the public to give us information about things like this, we don't have eyes and ears on every street".

In a letter handed in at the site, An Taisce said it was referring the matter to the Garda. Mr Smith said that when delivering the letter, An Taisce had volunteered to advise the developers free of charge on restoring and preserving the shop front. Mr Geoghan said that restoring illegally carried out work was one option facing developers when faced with severe penalties in court but that they would "have to convince the corporation that their alternative would be satisfactory".

A spokeswoman for the corporation said she expected the planners would be seeking a meeting with the leaseholders.

A caller claiming to be speaking for DTRM, who refused to identify himself, told The Irish Times that the company had been advised that essential repairs were exempt from needing planning permission and that it had been advised the shop front was in a dangerous condition. The caller also asserted that the building was not list two protected.

DTRM recently paid key money of £100,000 for the leasehold interest in the "Our Boys" building. The 35 year lease runs from 1988 and is subject to a current rent of £23,750 per annum.