O'Callaghan to ask court to halt tribunal hearing

Lawyers for developer Owen O'Callaghan will today ask the High Court for an injunction preventing the current planning tribunal hearings on Quarryvale from going ahead.

The taking of evidence from former government press secretary Frank Dunlop, which was scheduled to start this morning, has been postponed because of the proceedings.

Mr O'Callaghan alleges bias on the part of the tribunal over its handling of allegations made about him by rival developer Tom Gilmartin. Last week, he obtained the right to seek a judicial review of the tribunal's decision to investigate Quarryvale, which will be heard by the High Court next week.

Mr Dunlop, who has alleged corruption surrounding the rezoning of Quarryvale, is now due to give evidence on Tuesday. However, if Mr O'Callaghan obtains an injunction, the inquiry may have to adjourn hearings until the new year.

Yesterday, the tribunal heard that more than 10,000 people made representations supporting the rezoning of Quarryvale at the time of the 1991 draft development plan for Dublin.

Dublin county council received 10,600 representations in support of a rezoning of the west Dublin site for shopping centre use, and 6,000 representations objecting to any proposed change. A further 226 individual representations were received, according to Annette Egan, barrister for the tribunal.

Quarryvale accounted for the majority - 16,826 out of a total of 23,866 - of representations received by the council during the consultation period of the development plan, Ms Egan said.

Sinead Collins, a former administrative officer with the council, yesterday outlined the planning history of the site from the time of the 1983 development plan, when it was zoned residential, open space and industrial, to 1993, when the council rezoned it for town centre use.

The tribunal also heard that public transport, third-level education facilities and a hospital were supposed to form part of any town centre development.