The owner of the Citywest hotel complex in west Dublin has received permission to build a large cemetery on former golf club lands at the site.
An Bord Pleanála granted permission to Tetrarch subsidiary Cape Wrath Hotel Unlimited Company on September 3rd for 8,047 burial plots at the cemetery, subject to 22 conditions being met by the developer. This followed an appeal lodged last year by a local resident to an earlier grant of permission by South Dublin County Council.
The 8,047-plot burial ground would be worth at least €20 million, based upon the price of plots in other cemeteries in the area.
The conditions prohibit funeral ceremonies or services being carried out on site. They also call for a tree survey to be conducted, while the developer must submit a “glint and glare assessment” to ensure the scheme does not impact flight safety at nearby Casement Aerodrome, which is operated by the Air Corps.
“During the construction phase of the development, the applicant shall implement adequate bird control measures to mitigate the effects of birds on Air Corps flight operations,” the board’s direction states.
[ Locals oppose Tetrarch plans for Citywest graveyardOpens in new window ]
In his report, the board’s inspector Tom Rabbette said the development would “preserve the existing woodland canopy and minimise the impact on existing vegetation and ecology where possible”, with the burial plots predominantly sited within the fairways of the former golf course.
He also noted the “high-quality design of the reception building and its associated landscaping” and said the facility would provide a valuable civic amenity given the “emerging pattern of development in the area” and would not “seriously injure the residential or visual amenities of the area”.
The development would comprise a single-storey reception building, with a floor area of 215sq m, a maintenance building, 110 car-parking spaces, and bicycle stands. In addition, it would include a number of columbarium walls for interning the ashes of people who are cremated.
Tetrarch was approached for comment.
The cemetery proposal for the site of the former 18-hole Citywest golf club, which closed in 2020, was the second scheme Tetrarch had proposed for the lands. In 2021, it sought permission for a large “sports and civic campus”, incorporating rugby and GAA pitches, a golf driving range, a minigolf facility, tennis and football five-a-side courts and a bar and restaurant.
That proposal ran into opposition from local Saggart businesses and a residents’ association, who expressed concerns to the council over traffic and whether a road contained within the development could be used to link lands for a big strategic housing development.
Tetrarch and a co-investor acquired the Citywest complex, which was first developed by the late businessman Jim Mansfield, from the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) in 2014 for about €30 million. The company took full control of Citywest in 2018.
The hotel, the largest in the State, with more than 750 bedrooms, is currently being used to house Ukrainian refugees and international protection applicants under a contract with the State due to expire next year. Citywest was also used exclusively by the State via the Health Service Executive during the Covid crisis, initially as an overflow hospital and subsequently as a vaccination centre.
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