Duchas, the Heritage Service, says a proposed hotel development for the King's Island area of Limerick will erase a medieval laneway and ignores important monuments.
The application by King's Island Developments to build a 107-bedroom hotel is for an area which formed part of the historic walled city. A substantial part of the wall runs through the site, Ms Triona Lonergan of the development applications section of Duchas told Limerick Corporation.
The proposal is for two interconnected curvilinear blocks, reaching a height of 20.5 metres, in an area bounded by the Northern Relief Road, the medieval Long Lane and Sir Harry's Mall, which runs alongside the Abbey river. The developers also propose building a pedestrian boardwalk across the river.
"It is proposed to erase all trace of a medieval laneway, the widening of a second medieval lane and the substantial loss of the southern end of Sir Harry's Mall," Ms Lonergan said.
Monuments at the site include the remains of a city gateway, a medieval Augustinian priory, two towers and a building which may be part of a medieval Franciscan friary.
"The development as proposed pays no heed to the existence of these important monuments," she said. "In particular, the development as proposed excludes the preservation in situ of a possible building of the Franciscan friary."
She added that the development's scale and bulk within such an archaeological zone was also problematic. "In general, this department is dissatisfied with the present proposal and believes a fundamental redesign and substantial further archaeological investigation are required before any decision to grant permission for this development is possible."
Dublin architects Burke-Kennedy Doyle, who act for the applicant, said their understanding was that the wall on the site was of relatively recent construction, built on the lines of the old Limerick wall. Its removal is being assessed by their archaeological adviser and the Limerick City Archaeologist "in the light of any archaeological implications".
They describe the development as a "gateway" to the heart of Limerick city and to King's Island.
Some residents in the area have lodged objections on the grounds of scale and the traffic hazards that would be created and because natural light to their homes would be blocked.