Pressure grows for action over demolition of Dublin garage

The Dublin hotelier and property developer, Mr Noel O'Callaghan, is coming under pressure to rebuild Archer's garage, the listed building in Fenian Street which was demolished illegally during the June bank holiday weekend.

Dublin Corporation is also being pressed to issue immediate enforcement proceedings against Mr O'Callaghan and Wallmac Ltd, which carried out the demolition work for his company, Sherborough Securities Ltd.

If the Corporation fails to act, Mr Ciaran Cuffe, Green Party chairman of the city council's planning committee, said he would go to court this week in partnership with Lancefort Ltd, the conservation body which fights high-profile planning cases.

"It is now two weeks since Archer's garage was demolished and so far, nothing has been done apart from seeking senior counsel's opinion. It is essential that the corporation takes enforcement action, and this should include a requirement that it be rebuilt," he said.

Last week, Lancefort wrote to the Garda in Pearse Street, urging them to prosecute. Inspt John Keenan told the company that the corporation was the "primary agency" in such cases, and said he would seek legal advice on what he could do if it decided not to pursue the matter.

Mr Cuffe called on Mr O'Callaghan to resign immediately as a director of Bord Failte, to which he was appointed last August by the Minister for Tourism, Dr McDaid. Given the board's role as a prescribed body under the Planning Acts, his position was untenable, Mr Cuffe said.

The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland will also be writing to the Dublin City Manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, and the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, pointing out the implications for all listed buildings if effective enforcement action is not taken.

Mr Shane O'Toole, chairman of the Irish branch of DOCOMOMO, the international association for the documentation and conservation of modern movement buildings, insisted that the corporation "must instigate legal action to jail the developer".

This had to be done to protect all listed buildings of whatever period, he said. "With spiralling property values, even the current maximum fine of £1 million is inadequate because the return on developing the site could be five or six times that figure.

"Imprisonment and rebuilding are the only options that would send a signal to the development community that this sort of activity cannot be tolerated," Mr O'Toole said. Otherwise, developers would conclude that they could get away with similar demolitions.

"1999 is turning out to be a disastrous year, an annus horribilis, for modern architecture in Ireland. Not only is Archer's gone, but we have An Bord Pleanala sanctioning an obtrusive extension to the original terminal at Dublin Airport, and Pelican House is also under threat."

The latest newsletter from the Architectural Association of Ireland features a photograph of the Archer's demolition with a message urging members to press for it to be rebuilt by writing to the city manager as well as to Mr O'Callaghan and his architects, Anthony Reddy and Associates.

A campaign is also being mounted on the Internet through the Archeire.com website. Its co-ordinator, Mr Paul Clerkin, said he had purchased Sherborough Securities as a domain name. "It's a real Internet guerrilla tactic - and cheap at the price for just 70 dollars."

The new website, sherboroughsecurities.com, facilitates anyone who wishes to protest at the demolition of Archer's garage. Their email messages are sent automatically to the corporation and O'Callaghan Hotels, which includes the Mont Clare, Davenport and Alexander.

So far, Mr Clerkin said, around 100 people have used the facility, even though it has not been heavily publicised. "It's this kind of pressure from ordinary people that will goad the corporation into clamping down on illegal demolitions," he added. Mr David Hughes, an architect who lives near the Archer's garage site, said he was "surprised at the seeming inaction of the corporation in the light of such a flagrant breach of the city development plan", under which the building was scheduled for preservation.

He said it would be technically feasible to reconstruct the building in facsimile, depending on the quality of drawings that were available. "That's a separate issue. But first and foremost, the corporation must take legal action to enforce the Planning Acts," he declared.

Mr Dara O'Connell, an architect who had chosen the Archer's site as a subject for his thesis, said he had drawn detailed floor plans and elevations of the building and would be prepared to make these available to assist any legal action or effort to rebuild it.

Attempts to contact Mr O'Callaghan yesterday were unsuccessful.