RDS gets green light for office block despite outcry

AN BORD Pleanála has granted planning permission to the Royal Dublin Society for a 100 million office complex, despite local objections.

The enclosed order of Poor Clare nuns says the office blocks overlook the order’s property and will impact on their “privacy and confidentiality”.

An Taisce, one of the main objectors, says the multi-storey development “prejudices the maintenance of the Horse Show in its present form, by reducing the available open space”.

During an oral hearing last June the society insisted its future would be in jeopardy if it were not allowed to proceed with the plan.

A spokesperson for the RDS last night rejected the suggestion the Horse Show would move away, stressing the new development was designed to ensure the premier equine event remained on the RDS complex.

Under the planning ruling, the RDS must omit one of the five office blocks earmarked for the prime Ballsbridge site.

Several residents’ groups and the local St Mary’s Church and parish were among 21 objectors to the 1.86 hectare development.

Last December, Dublin City Council gave the development the green light and the council defended its decision during the two-day oral hearing.

RDS consultant Bernard McHugh told the hearing the society might have to sell its lands at Ballsbridge and move to another location if planning permission was blocked. Yesterday a spokesperson for An Taisce said: “We note there are no conditions imposed by An Bord Pleanála that require the RDS to retain the Horse Show on the site.”

Planning consultant Dr Diarmuid Ó Gráda, who represented the Anglesea Road Residents’ Association at the oral hearing, said residents he spoke to expressed “shock and dismay” at the decision.