An Bord Pleanála is facing as many legal challenges now as it did during the building boom, with a growing proportion of its decisions being taken for judicial review.

The wife of billionaire Dermot Desmond has lost her planning battle with model and next door neighbour, Karen Reihill, at one of Dublin 4’s most sought after addresses at Ailesbury Road.

An Bord Pleanála has given the go-ahead for a bus depot in Dublin’s docklands despite facing opposition from accounting giant PwC and developer Johnny Ronan.

The operators of the 3Arena are among appellants in relation to recent permission for increased audience capacity for concerts at the Citywest centre in south Dublin.

Lisa Flynn was one of a group of parents who travelled to Dublin yesterday to voice their opposition to the location of the new children’s hospital.

A government minister has defended the pre-election sod turning on the stalled €53m Cork event centre despite no building work on site four months on.

Families living in the Lee Valley area of Co Cork are refusing to give up their nine-year fight to stop a windfarm being sited close to one of the Europe’s last ancient river forests. They are to appeal Cork County Council’s latest decision to An Bord Pleanála.

The company proposing to build a waste-to-energy plant in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork, has dismissed claims that incinerators account for 70% of all dioxins or that an explosion which recently rocked one of its Belgian sites could happen here.

A €6.5m solar farm, part of an independent power company’s plans for 11 such projects in Co Cork, has been refused planning permission.

Babies in buggies, grannies in geansais emblazoned with the slogan ‘No to toxic waste incineration’, hazmat suits, and lots of surgical masks — the carpark of the Carrigaline Court Hotel resembled a bizarre mix of playground fare and the post-apocalyptic as hundreds of people protested against plans to build an incinerator locally.

There were angry exchanges and at least three calls for an adjournment at the opening day of An Bord Pleanála’s oral hearing into proposals by waste management company Indaver Ireland to build a €160m incinerator in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork.

The general manager of the Donald Trump Doonbeg golf resort said yesterday that the outcome of plans for the €10m Trump rock barrier at Doonbeg “will determine the future of our business, the local community and its citizens”.

Two developers looking to address the shortage of third-level student accommodation in Dublin have had contrasting fortunes.

Gay icon Panti Bliss got a dose of the “planning blues” yesterday as Dublin City Council refused planning retention for her contentious 3.5m-high illuminated sign at the landmark Panti Bar venue.

Why some of the data included as part of Indaver Ireland’s application to build an incinerator in Ringaskiddy appears identical to a 2008 application by another company for an entirely different facility in Co Meath remained a mystery yesterday on the final day of an oral hearing into the proposed project.

An evacuation route put forward by Indaver Ireland to facilitate movement of personnel off Haulbowline Island in the event of an emergency involves use of a road that is gated, with the gates locked during certain periods.

Residents of Cork’s lower harbour have “no faith” in Indaver to ensure a proposed incinerator would be safe in the event of an explosion or fire.