FORGET THE parade, for an alternative St Patrick's Day outing developer Seán Dunne is inviting people over to Ballsbridge to check out his plans for the Jury's Berkeley Court site which are on display in the Herbert Suite of the former Berkeley Court until March 20th - (and again from March 21st to April 6th), including bank holidays when it's open from 11am to 4pm.

Dunne, who got partial approval last week from Dublin City Council for a development on the site - which includes an 18-storey building fronting Shelbourne Road, a hotel, district shopping centre, 294 apartments, an embassy building, and cultural centre - has issued a lengthy press release quoting long paragraphs of praise for the development from the Dublin City Council planner's report , which is written in uncharacteristically verbose language.

Dunne is set to appeal the rejection of his proposal for a 37-storey tower element to An Bord Pleanála which he believes is a crucial element. Instead of the usual planner-speak used to reject tall buildings like "excessive height" or "visually overbearing" the report waxes lyrical about the visual impact as viewed from Pembroke Road for some "would be a disturbing shock" but for others "it will be exciting, in the words of Séamus Heaney, it could 'catch the heart off guard and blow it open'."

Dunne points out in the press release that, despite a public perception that there was huge objection to his proposals, of the 739 observations received by Dublin City Council, 583 were in support and 156 were objectors. He says among locals 174 were in support and "only" 140 objected.

The planner's report refers to the design of the scheme as "providing for a quantum leap in the quality of apartment housing, in spaciousness terms".

Whether An Bord Pleanála will agree remains to be seen.