Applications to rezone church lands refused

A bid by the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin to have large numbers of church sites zoned for housing has been rejected by Dublin city councillors.

The archdiocese earlier this year made submissions on the city development plan in relation to the zoning of more than 30 churches across the city.

Council chief executive Owen Keegan and city planner John O’Hara recommended councillors refuse almost all of the proposals, which in most cases would require church demolition were housing to be built on the sites.

Many of the churches involved are among Dublin’s largest, built in the mid-20th century to serve growing populations in suburbs such as Cabra, Marino and Finglas, where congregations have since declined. Other sites included historic inner-city churches listed on the record of protected structures, which strictly limits development.

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Planning consultants representing the archdiocese said it had “specific ambitions” to help with the housing crisis and that it was “already working with AHBs [approved housing bodies] and local councils in certain locations”.

However, Mr Keegan said most of the rezoning applications were “premature” because the diocese had put forward no specific proposals for the future development of the land.

Fine Gael councillor James Geoghegan at a city development plan meeting on Thursday said he was concerned the “blanket designation” of zoning which restricted residential development was a “blunt development control instrument which doesn’t take account of site particulars or circumstances”.

He noted that a planning submission made by the owners of the Church sites stated the lands were “capable of delivering a level of appropriately designed and sited residential development” and “many of the subject sites are located in disadvantaged areas where the delivery of housing is taking priority over additional institutional land uses”.

Several councillors said they appreciated the point Mr Geoghegan was making in relation to the need for housing, but they were concerned about the sell-off of church sites for large-scale private developments including build-to-rent schemes.

“Our problem is that our land is being used as a commodity,” Labour councillor Mary Freehill said. “God isn’t making any more land in Dublin, so we have to make very, very sure that the biggest landowners in this city, that their land is put to the best possible use.”

Independent councillor Pat Dunne said that “on many occasions it has been used by institutions to boost their pension fund by selling to the highest bidder”.

Labour councillor Alison Gilliland said instead of selling land to developers “I think the good Christian thing to do would be for the church to work with Dublin City Council on any land it does want to see used for housing to house those in most need with social housing and affordable housing”.

Mr O’Hara said in determining zoning a “blanket approach was not taken and each site was assessed individually”.

Mr Geoghegan agreed to withdraw motions which would have supported the church’s zoning requests.