Blow to hotelier as €50m centre plan blocked

BUSINESSMAN Jim Mansfield has expressed “extreme disappointment” at a decision by An Bord Pleanála to block his plans to build a €50m conference centre at his Citywest hotel and golf complex near Saggart, Co Dublin.

The decision by a 7-1 majority vote of the board could force the millionaire hotelier and prominent Fianna Fáil supporter to demolish unauthorised structural work on the 6,000-seater centre, at an estimated cost of around €15m.

It followed an appeal by An Taisce to the board after South Dublin County Council granted permission for the conference centre last November to Mr Mansfield’s development company, HSS, despite objections by a number of State bodies including the National Roads Authority and the Dublin Transportation Office.