A proposed £1.2 billion high-rise development on Dublin's Spencer Dock is unattractive and unsuitable and would transfer a bit of Manhattan to the city, the financier, Mr Dermot Desmond, has told a planning appeal hearing.
Mr Desmond was concerned the proposal for 26 buildings on the 51-acre site would "blight the docklands development to the detriment of Dublin and its people".
He was making a submission to a Bord Pleanala's oral hearing into the decision by Dublin Corporation last August to grant partial planning permission for the scheme, which includes a proposed £105 million National Conference Centre. Mr Desmond said the proposal should be "totally rejected" by the board.
He said the nearby International Financial Services Centre, which he is involved in, was a substantial success. More than 9,000 people directly work in companies based in it and the corporate tax take from IFSC companies is about £400 million a year.
That development's failure to provide the diverse range of facilities set out in the original plans, such as museums, a marina, a public park and cinema was less satisfactory, he added.
"We have failed in one of the key objectives, which was to make the IFSC a vibrant social and cultural area. Come to the IFSC in the evenings after 7 p.m. or at the weekends and it is dead. What the developers say they will do and what they actually deliver is entirely different."
Mr Desmond said he was concerned the Dublin Docklands Authority's programme to develop the 1,600 acres should result in "high quality sustainable development attractive for living, working and leisure".
He criticised the Spencer Dock proposal for its lack of design quality or attractive features, its overwhelming bulk and density and its insensitivity to its surroundings.
Responding to questions from Mr Tom Phillips, a planning consultant for the developers, Mr Desmond said he was involved in the hearing "because we all have a little bit of ownership of Dublin and responsibility for Dublin".