Moore Street complex planning approval set to be extended

The developers behind the €1.25 billion Dublin Central shopping complex have sought a seven-year extension to planning permission for the scheme that includes the demolition of most of the east side of Moore Street.

The extension is likely to be granted by Dublin City Council despite a court order earlier this year protecting Moore Street as a 1916 “battlefield site”.

In 2010, developer Joe O'Reilly's Chartered Land was granted planning permission for the complex on a site stretching from the former Carlton cinema on O'Connell Street to Moore Street. Construction has not started and the permission is due to expire in 2017.

Last March High Court Judge Max Barrett ordered the protection of nearly all of the buildings on the east side of the street as well as the laneways leading to it.

Mr Justice Max Barrett declared the buildings a 1916 Rising battlefield site that collectively constitute a national monument.

Colm Moore, a nominee of the 1916 Relatives Association, took the case against the Minister for Arts and Heritage to extend national monument status to all Moore Street buildings linked to the Rising .

No wider site

Four houses on the street, Nos 14-17, were designated national monuments in 2007. The Minister had argued that only these buildings merited national monument status and there was no wider battlefield site.

The judge declared as a national monument No 10; a portion of No 13 comprising a party wall with No 12; Nos 18, 20 and 21; the one-time O’Brien’s water works, bottling stores and stables; and the so-called White House.

His declaration also covers O’Rahilly Parade; Moore Lane from Parnell Street to Henry Place; the entire “L” shape created by Henry Place; and Moore Street from the junction with Henry Place to the junction with O’Rahilly Parade.

The permission granted to Chartered Land in 2010 ensured the preservation of the National Monument, but permitted the full or partial demolition of the buildings above.

Despite the court ruling, the application to extend the permission seeks the demolition of “all other buildings, other than the protected structures and facades and national monuments”.

Not in conflict

In determining whether or not to extend permission, the council must make the decision on planning grounds and cannot take the court case into account. As long as the application is not in conflict with the current city development plan, which came into force in 2011 a year after permission for the development was granted, and doesn’t clash with any planning policies since issued by the Department of the Environment, the extension is likely to be granted.

It is believed that an appeal against Mr Justice Max Barrett’s decision is being prepared by the State.

The proposed development would have 110 retail units including a large anchor store (the developers had previously hoped to attract British department store John Lewis to the site), as well as 108 apartments.

The development also included cafes, restaurants and bars, and a visitor attraction known as the “Sky Lift” which would take visitors to a viewing deck on top of a 13-storey building.