Developer Bernard MacNamara has been told by An Bord Pleanála that a helicopter pad beside Booterstown Marsh, Co Dublin is not an exempted development and would require planning permission.

In February, the property developer promised to remove the helicopter pad from the site at the edge the marsh, following complaints that it had been installed without planning permission. However, controversy raged some months later when the helipad was reported to be still in use.

McNamara maintained that landing the aircraft beside the An Taisce-leased sanctuary does not breach any law or regulation. He commissioned Robertson and Associates, environmental consultants, to compare the effect on wildlife of the helicopter noise with that generated by the nearby Dart trains and claimed that initial findings showed that the difference was not significant.

But environmental groups, like An Taisce and Birdwatch Ireland, warned that noise generated from helicopters could frighten wild birds in the nature reserve and said that the marsh was one of the last remaining winter roosting sites in the Dublin Bay area for Dunlin, Snipe, Red Shank and Black-tailed Godwit, as well as waterfowl, such as Teal and Mallard.

The developer contended that the use of the helipad would be occasional at less than five movements per week and "highly unlikely" to occur on a daily basis. However, An Bord Pleanála ruled the helipad would constitute a material change of use of the land, which is zoned open space and recreational and would require planning permission.

In 2003, An Bord Pleanála refused McNamara's Ashcastle developments planning permission for 53 luxury apartments and a public park beside Booterstown Marsh bird sanctuary.

Upholding an appeal by a group of local residents, the board said the scheme would contravene the open space and recreational zoning of the site, "contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area".

The second reason given by the board was that the proposed development would be premature pending the determination of a route for the proposed eastern bypass motorway, which would probably run underneath the Booterstown area of south Co Dublin.